Montana Pays Off Taxes Faster Than Most States, Tax Freedom Day is April 14

Montana’s Tax Freedom Day is just around the corner. Economist Lyman Stone from the Tax Foundation helps to calculate how long it will take a state to pay off a state's  collective tax burden.

"Tax Freedom Day is the day when America as a whole, or in this case, Montana as a whole, has earned enough to pay its total tax bill for the year," Stone said. "It's the sum of all federal taxes paid by Montana residents, all Montana State taxes, all taxes to other states that Montana residents pay,  and all their local taxes.

In the early 1900's Tax Freedom Day in the U.S. occurred in January, but had jumped up to April by the 1970's where it has been for many years. In 2014, the national Tax Freedom Day is April 21, but Montana beats that date by a week.

"For Montana, it's going to be April 14," Stone said. "There's a couple ties in there with states that are on the same day. I think if you want to be quite precise, Montana has the 22nd Tax Freedom Day in the nation."

Louisiana celebrates the earliest tax freedom day on March 30. Folks in New Jersey have to wait the longest and won’t pay off their collective tax bill until May 9.