America's Other Tax Day is April 16th

We Spent 106 Days Paying Taxes in 2025

I have a confession: I haven’t filed my taxes yet. (I like to live on the edge.) And instead of calculating my own taxes last night, which would have been prudent, I decided to calculate everyone else’s.

In tax year 2025, federal, state, and local tax collections totaled $7.58 trillion, which is $22,182 per capita and $56,247 per household. Twenty-nine percent of U.S. personal income goes to taxes, meaning that, collectively, it takes Americans 106 days to earn enough to remit taxes at all levels. Coincidentally, that date is just around the corner, too: April 16th, one day after Tax Day.

Let’s break that down:

• Individual income taxes raised $3.34 trillion in 2025: $2.74 trillion at the federal level and $592 billion at the state and local level. That’s just under 47 days’ worth of personal income, taking us to February 16th.

• Federal social insurance and retirement taxes come next at $1.77 trillion. That’s a little under 25 days’ worth, which brings us to March 12th.

• Property taxes, which are almost exclusively local (but include taxes on businesses’ machinery and equipment, not just real property), brought in $827 billion (11.5 days), and now we’re to March 24th.

• Sales, excise, and miscellaneous taxes generated $785 billion, with about $600 billion of that coming from state and local sales taxes, adding 11 days and bringing us to April 4th.

• Corporate income taxes, at $603 billion ($424 billion at the federal level), add another 8.5 days and take us through April 12th.

• Tariffs (customs duties) generated $264 billion, up from $79 billion in 2024, adding a little under 4 days and taking us through April 16th, the day when the country will have collectively earned enough to pay all of 2025’s federal, state, and local taxes.

These charts are embeddable for sharing in blog posts or in other online content:

Obligatory Marketing Note

My new consultancy provides tax policy research, writing, and other services, both project-specific and on retainer (or in visiting fellow-style roles). If you are in the market for tax policy research or know someone who is, please let me know.

Please Share this Substack

If you find this Substack valuable, please do me a favor and share it with colleagues and others who may be interested. And if you haven’t yet subscribed (it’s free), please consider doing so!