Editing Tax Freedom Day (section)

==Criticism==
In the book ''[[Filthy Lucre: Economics for People Who Hate Capitalism]]'', philosopher [[Joseph Heath]] criticizes the idea that tax-paying is inherently different from consumption:
<blockquote>
It would make just as much sense to declare an annual "mortgage freedom day", in order to let mortgage owners know what day they "stop working for the bank and start working for themselves". ...But who cares? Homeowners are not really "working for the bank"; they're merely financing their own consumption. After all, they're the ones living in the house, not the bank manager.<ref>{{cite book|last=Heath|first=Joseph|title=[[Filthy Lucre (book)|Filthy Lucre]]|pages=90}}</ref>
</blockquote>

===Mathematical===
For Canada, the [[Fraser Institute]] also includes a "Personal Tax Freedom Day Calculator" that estimates a customized Tax Freedom Day based on additional variables such as age of household head, sex of household head, marital status and number of children. However, the Fraser Institute's figures have been disputed. For example, a 2005 study by [[Osgoode Hall Law School|Osgoode Hall Law]] Professor Neil Brooks<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.osgoode.yorku.ca/faculty/neilbrooks.html |institution=Osgoode Hall |title=Professor Neil Brooks |year=2005 |access-date=December 11, 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051216161715/http://www.osgoode.yorku.ca/faculty/neilbrooks.html |archive-date=December 16, 2005 }}</ref> argued that the Fraser Institute's Tax Freedom Day analysis includes flawed accounting, including the exclusion of several important forms of income and overstating tax figures, moving the date nearly two months later.<ref name="fn_1">{{citation|url=http://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National_Office_Pubs/2005/tax_freedom_day.pdf |title=Tax Freedom Day – A Flawed, Incoherent, and Pernicious Concept |date=June 5, 2005 |access-date=August 16, 2016}}</ref>

In America, while Tax Freedom Day presents an "average American" tax burden, it is not a tax burden typical for an American. That is, the tax burdens of most Americans are substantially overstated by Tax Freedom Day. The larger tax bills associated with higher incomes increases the average tax burden above that of most Americans.

The [[Tax Foundation]] defends its methodology by pointing out that Tax Freedom Day is the U.S. economy's overall average tax burden—not the tax burden of the "average" American, which is how it is often misinterpreted by members of the media.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/1406.html|title = Tax Foundation}}</ref> Tax Foundation materials do not use the phrase "tax burden of the average American", although members of the media often make this mistake.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxfreedomday/ |title=The Tax Foundation – America Celebrates Tax Freedom Day<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=April 27, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060423204907/http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxfreedomday/ |archive-date=April 23, 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Another criticism is that the calculation includes [[capital gain]]s taxes but not capital gains income, thus overstating the tax burden. For example, in the late 1990s the US Tax Freedom Day moved later, reaching its latest date ever in 2000, but this was largely due to capital gains taxes on the bull market of that era rather than an increase in tax rates. In other words, variations in capital gains income and their associated taxes cause changes in the amount of taxes, but not in the income used in the calculation of Tax Freedom Day.

The Tax Foundation argues that the Tax Freedom Day calculation does not include capital gains as income because it uses income and tax data directly from the [[Bureau of Economic Analysis]] (BEA). BEA has never counted [[capital gain]]s as income since they don't represent current production available to pay taxes, and so the Tax Foundation excludes them as well. Additionally, the Tax Foundation argues that the exclusion of capital gains income is irrelevant in most years since including capital gains would only shift Tax Freedom Day by 1 percent in either direction in most years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/1406.html|title = Tax Foundation}}</ref> A 1 percent change would represent 3.65 days. From 1968 to 2019 the date has never left the 21-day range of April 13 to May 3.