Macintosh Tax Freedom Day Clock
Widget Released
John Gaver
February 11, 2009
Updated April 1, 2010
Today, ActionAmerica.org released it's popular Tax Freedom Day Clock in the form of a Macintosh Dashboard Widget. The widget, that is based upon Tax Foundation data, has now been updated to pull each year's Tax Freedom Day from the internet.
Tax Freedom Day is the day on which average Americans have worked long enough to pay their taxes for that year. The Tax Freedom Clock Widget 2.0.08 counts the time till or since Tax Freedom Day. (The "08" in the version number represents the tax year upon which the text on the back side of the widget is based.)
In 2010, Tax Freedom Day falls on April 9.
But, that's not the worst of it. The Tax Foundation points out that this date does not take into consideration, a sharply increased budget deficit that will occur this year, due to the bail-outs. It is based only upon projected incomes and taxes for this year. The deficit-included date would be May 17 - by far the latest date ever for the deficit-included number (see the Tax Foundation chart).
The data used in the computation of Tax Freedom Day comes primarily from the US Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and is calculated by the Tax Foundation. For the purposes of the Tax Freedom Day Clock, ActionAmerica uses the Tax Foundation data to further calculate the exact minute of Tax Freedom, each year. The report on which these calculations are based and the Tax Foundation calculations are released some time around late March or early April, each year.
According to our expanded calculation, the exact moment of Tax Freedom will occur at 10:19 PM on April 13 and both our web-based Tax Freedom Clock and the Macintosh widget version of this clock have been updated to reflect that date and time. It is not necessary for those using the widget to download a new version of the widget. The widget updates its data from the web, each time the Dashboard is opened.
Like the Tax Freedom Day Clock that appears just above the title of this article, the widget counts down to Tax Freedom Day, in months, days, hours, minutes and seconds. After Tax Freedom Day passes, the widget counts how long Americans have been working for themselves, since that time.
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Snapshot of the Tax Freedom Day Clock Widget Click image to download v2.0 (2008). |
The front side of the widget is designed to take up very little screen real estate, while displaying the time till or since Tax Freedom, of the most recent year. The reverse side of the widget expands slightly, to display a scrollable description of the widget and the source of the calculations that went into the widget. The back side also contains links to pages containing more such data. To save CPU cycles, the widget observes the standard of going idle, when Dashboard is closed.
In the most recent release of the Tax Freedom Clock, we have added functionality to the widget that will allow it to update each year's Tax Freedom Day from the internet. This will eliminate the need to download a new version of the widget each March or April.
The widget reads the most recent Tax Freedom Day from the internet, only when the widget starts up or when the Dashboard opens. So, if the Tax Freedom Day Clock is displaying, when the new Tax Freedom Day is posted, the widget will not be updated with the new Tax Freedom Day, until the next time you open the Dashboard.
As noted above, it is no longer necessary to download the latest widget each year. But we will occasionally update the information on the back side of the widget, so if that interests you, then you might want to keep an eye on this page each April, for changes in the version number.
For more information on Tax Freedom Day, see our article, The Tax Freedom Day Clock 2010.
For more information on taxes in the USA, see our very popular annual article, The Economy Bomb - Ticking Down Faster.
Installation: Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger or later is required. If you’re using Safari, click the download link. When the widget download is complete, show Dashboard, click the Plus sign to display the Widget Bar and click the widget’s icon in the Widget Bar to open it. If you’re using a browser other than Safari, click the download link. When the widget download is complete, unarchive it and place it in /Library/Widgets/ in your home folder, show Dashboard, click the Plus sign to display the Widget Bar and click the widget’s icon in the Widget Bar to open it.
Copyright 2019 John Gaver
All rights reserved
See related articles and supporting documents:
1986-2008 IRS Collections Data by Income Category
Obama agenda drives record expatriation
Tick - Tick - Tick / The Economy Bomb
Tax Freedom Day Builds Case for FairTax
US Tax Freedom Day Clock Web Widget
UK Tax Freedom Day Clock Web Widget
US Tax Freedom Day Clock
US Tax Freedom Day Clock Widget (for Mac)
UK Tax Freedom Day Clock Widget (for Mac)
The Privacy Factor
More Attacks on the Wealthy
US Taxpatriates List
2000 Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration & Naturalization Service (6.2mb PDF)
2003 World Wealth Report (Press Release)
American Citizens Residing Abroad (US Bureau of Consular Affairs)
Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 (26 USC 877(a)(1))
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 USC 1182(a)(10)(E))
Heroes Earnings Assistance & Relief Tax Act (Public Law 110-245) (8 USC 1182(a)(10)(E))
The Economic Impact of Replacing Federal Income Taxes
with a Sales Tax (CATO)
Fair Tax Act of 2011 (H.R. 25)
Americans for Fair Taxation
National Retail Sales Tax Alliance
Recommended Books:
The Rich Don't Pay Tax …Or Do They?
The Fair Tax Book
Fair Tax: The Truth
How to Hide Your A$$et$ and Disappear
Escape From America
See Expatriate sites:
The Sovereign Society
Escape Artist
Expat World
Second Passports
Contact your Congressman here.