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This week's editorial:

Independence Day?
(c) 1997 by Mark Perry

We recently celebrated our nation's most important holiday - Independence Day. On the Fourth of July we recognize the birth of America as a free nation on the anniversary of the day we declared ourselves free from British rule. Early Americans found British taxation oppressive and unacceptable when it reached a level of about 25%. The Declaration of Independence was a rejection of the heavy burden of British statist policies and onerous taxation. Americans in the 1700s demanded limited government and low taxes.

My, how times have changed! Every year, a group called Americans for Tax Reform calculates the date on which the average American worker has earned enough income during the year to pay for federal, state and local government expenditures, and for the cost of federal regulations. This year the Cost of Government Day will fall on July 3! Only on July 3 will the average American be free from their full annual obligation to the state and federal governments.

Isn't it ironic that we celebrate Independence Day on July 4 to recognize our rejection of oppressive British power and taxation and yet the typical American now works until July 3 to pay for Big Government? We celebrate Independence Day from the British government on the day after we are actually free from our responsibility to the U.S. government.

How can we celebrate a declaration of independence from Britain and at the same time be complacent about a current tax burden from our own government that is more than twice as oppressive as that of the British government in the 1700s?

After the Declaration of Independence in 1776 the Cost of Government Day never went past February 1 until the 1930s. Since the 1930s, the burden of government has gradually increased to the current level of over 50% of national income, so that the Cost of Government Day typically occurs now in July, more than halfway through the year.

People never give up their freedoms all at once, but we will tolerate losing our freedom gradually over time, as we have seen happen in this century. The growth of Big Government and the accompanying erosion of our personal freedoms has happened so gradually over the last 60 years that we have hardly realized it. True freedom demands constant vigilance so that our freedoms aren't gradually taken away from us.

As Woodrow Wilson pointed out, freedom never comes from government, it always comes from the subjects of government. King George III didn't voluntarily give up power in the 1700s and Congress won't easily give up power in the 1900s. Americans demanded lower taxes in the 1700s and reclaimed their independence. The Americans of the 1990s deserve no less. We, as subjects of government, need to demand lower taxes and less government and declare our independence like our forebears did.

Independence Day on July 4 is a national holiday to celebrate our revolt against the encroaching power of the British government. And yet the current level of taxation and regulation that we tolerate from our own government is far more oppressive than anything King George III had to offer. It should be considered a national disgrace that we are now not free from our own government until the day before we celebrate independence from the British government.

(Mark J. Perry, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of economics at the University of Michigan-Flint. He may be reached at 810-762-3274 or by email at mjperry@umich.edu.)