6/16/00 12:40 p.m.
Cost of Government Day
It's time to celebrate.

By Ben Domenech, NRO contributing editor---------------btdome@wm.edu

t's that time of year again — time for raucous celebration, rowdy antics, and beer-drenched partying. It's time for that most holy of holidays, a ceremony of sacred tradition, Mardi Gras and All Saints Day all rolled into one for the fiscal-policy wonks.

Of course, I'm talking about Cost of Government Day.

Cost of Government Day (a.k.a. COGD) is the date, counting from January 1, on which the average American worker has earned enough gross income to pay off his federal, state, and local government-imposed financial obligations.

On consultation of the 2000 Edition of the Farmer's Almanac, COGD traditionally falls in late June or early July, after such other honored conservative holidays as "Tax Freedom Day" and "Spending Freedom Day."

During the Reagan years, COGD hovered around the July 1 mark, flirted with June during the Bush presidency, but dove back to July 10 as soon as Clinton took office.

The good news is that this year, COGD is being celebrated earlier than it ever has before, on June 16. This can't be credited to spending cuts (according to Americans for Tax Reform, the guardian spirits of COGD, the total cost of government is $3859.7 billion), but rather to an increase in Net National Product, from $7893 billion last year to $8505.4 billion this year.

What does it all mean, for those of us that don't work for the CATO Institute? It's actually pretty simple: The average American worker now spends about 45% of the year, or 166 days, working to pay the government.

That's kind of depressing, don't you think?

Then again, it's Cost of Government Day! So go out, take a half-day, buy some illegal fireworks, and make little papier-mache Grover Norquist figurines with the kids. Starting Monday, you get to keep your paycheck — it's time to celebrate.