All Work and No Play

The Topline note (“ A Taxing Workload,” May 07, page 19), concerning the average number of days worked to pay taxes and other household expenses, totals 365 days, after deducting two days for savings.

I always thought the “average,” non-CPA American worked 250 days a year (assuming a two-week vacation), which would leave nothing for transportation, recreation, clothing or “other.”

Times are tough, indeed.

Frank Farina, CPA, J.D.
Devon, Pa.

Editor’s note: The Tax Foundation says it uses a 365-day calendar when calculating Tax Freedom Day to allow for comparisons over time; it therefore does not adjust for weekends, holidays or leap years. The foundation inherited the concept and copyright of Tax Freedom Day in 1971 from Dallas Hostetler, the Florida businessman who conceived the idea, and has been calculating it this way ever since.