How do I find a good stock broker?

TAX TALLY
I have often wondered: what is the total tax burden on the average household? There are a lot of hidden and buried taxes in products we buy and those that we use: gasoline, telephone, electric and water as well as consumer goods that contain the taxes that corporations must pay as well. I have never seen this figure computed.

-- Roger S., Hamilton, Ohio

There are several ways you could come up with this number, but our favorite is the annual calculation done by the Tax Foundation known as Tax Freedom Day. That’s the date each year that represents the number of day’s worth of income required to pay your share of state, federal and local taxes.

This year, Tax Freedom Day came on April 17, which means it took 107 days worth of your annual income (or 29.1 percent) to pay your total tax burden. (In Ohio, your Tax Freedom Day arrived on April 14, just in time to file your return.)

The Tax Foundation’s annual calculation also breaks down where that money goes: Uncle Sam gets 70 days worth of income (19 percent) and state and local government gets the rest (10.1 percent, on average.) Of the total, 38 days labor go to pay income taxes, 30 days to pay federal and state insurance programs (like Social Security and unemployment insurance.) Sales and excise taxes eat up 16 days of your paycheck, property taxes cost you 11 days of labor, and corporate taxes represent 9 days. About 3 days are spent earning the money to pay “other” taxes.

After rising steadily through the 1990s, the average tax burden peaked in 2000, when it took until May 3 (or 33.6 percent of annual income) to pay the average tax bill. Thanks to tax cuts and the recession of 2001, the tax burden fell sharply, but it began rising again last year.

P&G HISTORY
Who was president of Proctor & Gamble in 1993?
-- Dewey W., Lancaster, Texas

Edwin L. Artzt lead the consumer products giant from 1990 to 1995.

Among the company's milestones on his watch were the introduction of a new corporate logo, a major restructuring, annual sales of $30 billion and global expansion that saw more than half of all revenues generated outside the U.S.

MORE FROM ANSWER DESK View the archive Check out answers to earlier reader questions. Or click on a topic below for more specific questions and answers: Accounting 101 Credit and debt Economic explanations Energy enigmas Home sweet home Miscellaneous mysteries On the job Saving and investing Small business Taxes

MORE FROM ANSWER DESK

Answer Desk Section Front

Who needs overpaid bankers? Who gets extended jobless benefits Easing job losses point to wobbly recovery Long-term jobless face frayed safety net GDP growth overstates case Recession over? Readers don't believe it Breaking down the cost of health care Commercial real estate bust looms 'Official' job numbers don't tell the whole story Getting mortgage help Answer Desk Section Front   Add Answer Desk headlines to your news reader: