Budget & Tax, Culture & the Family

How Long Do Oklahomans Work to Pay Their Taxes?

December 7, 2009

J. Scott Moody, Wendy Warcholik, Ph.D.

In FY 2008, Oklahomans paid an estimated $34,569,140,000 in federal, state, and local taxes, such as income taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes, to name just a few.

This is a mind-bendingly large number. To put this into a more understandable form, let's imagine a typical workday and divide that workday into all the major items that Oklahomans pay for in a given year-items such as food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and yes, even taxes.

The chart below shows the proportion of the workday spent working to pay for those items. Shockingly, Oklahomans spend more time working to pay their federal, state, and local taxes than they do to pay for food, clothing, and shelter combined. State and local taxes alone consume more of the workday than health care, entertainment, and clothing purchases combined.

Economists J. Scott Moody (M.A, George Mason University) and Wendy P. Warcholik (Ph.D., George Mason University) are OCPA research fellows.