New Jersey residents will once again be celebrating Tax Freedom Day much later than residents in other states across the nation.

“Tax Freedom Day is the day of the year that Americans have worked long enough to pay their total federal, state and local tax burden,” says Scott Drenkard, the director of state projects at the Tax Foundation.

He pointed out Tax Freedom day for the nation falls on April 19, but for Garden state residents it’s 14 days later, on May 3rd.

Why are we later than almost every other state in the nation?

Drenkard said “tax burdens in New Jersey for your state and local taxes are much higher than most other parts of the country. So, for example, the property taxes are the highest anywhere, income taxes are relatively high, corporate income taxes, some of the highest in the country.”

He also noted Garden State residents have relatively high salaries, so they end up paying more in federal income taxes.

He said Tax Freedom Day for the U.S. is three days earlier this year than it was in 2017, due to the recently enacted tax cuts passed by Congress and signed into law at the end of last year.

According to the Tax Foundation, Americans will pay $3.39 trillion in federal taxes this year, and $1.8 trillion in state and local taxes.

Drenkard noted this year, Americans will collectively spend more on taxes than they will on food, clothing, and housing combined.

Alaska and Louisiana have the lowest tax burden of any states in the nation and their Tax Freedom Day arrived April 4th.

New York has the latest Tax Freedom Day of any state in the nation, May 14.

New Jersey, with all of its high taxes has the second latest Tax Freedom Day, tied with Connecticut and the District of Columbia.

You can contact reporter David Matthau at David.Matthau@townsquaremedia.com