Happy Tax Day, Coloradans!  If you’re feeling the sting of tax season, know that you’re not alone.  According to a Gallup poll appropriately released today, just 55% of Americans view the income taxes they are required to pay as “fair”.  This sentiment is at the lowest level since Gallup started polling this sentiment annually in 2001.

Interestingly, half of Americans also view their taxes as “too high”, 45% feel their taxes are just about right and two percent feel their taxes are too low.  For those that feel their taxes are too low, there is always an option on the IRS tax forms to pay more.

Coloradans, in particular, may be feeling the weight of the tax burden.  According to the Tax Institute, Colorado’s “Tax Freedom Day”, which comes on April 17th this year is the latest among all its neighbors.  According to the Tax Foundation, Tax Freedom Day is “the day when the nation as a whole has earned enough money to pay its total tax bill for the year.”  In this case, we’re also looking at state tax burdens, which accounts for the differences in dates.

Colorado’s April 17th Tax Freedom Day puts the state behind New Mexico (April 3), Oklahoma (April 6), Kansas (April 9), Nebraska (April 12), Wyoming (April 16), Utah (April 13), and Arizona (April 5).

Of course, it could be worse, we could be New York, which doesn’t come out from under its tax burden until May 6.  Somebody has to pay for Bloomberg’s nanny-statism.

While Colorado carries one of the greatest tax burdens in the West, Colorado Democrats are itching to reach further into the pockets of Colorado’s hardworking families.  While Aguilar’s $16B tax hike is dead, a one billion tax hike courtesy of teachers’ unions is alive and well and headed to ballot.  Just another case of buyers beware.