Wednesday‚ 25 May 2016‚ is Tax Freedom Day. Five days later than in 2015 and five weeks later than in 1994. According to the Free Market Foundation‚ this trend is likely to continue as government spending‚ the deficit and government debt continues to increase.Tax Freedom Day is a measure of how much time you spend working for someone else’s benefit – government GDP – rather than your own. It is the day we‚ the people of South Africa‚ at last start to work for ourselves. It is the day on which we have finally paid our tax bill in full.From 1 January until 25 May‚ all the income earned by average South Africans make up the amount of money needed to pay for one year of government spending.The Foundation explains that taxes shift resources from the private sector to the public – government. Tax Freedom Day is important because SA’s future depends on private sector growth. High taxation slows‚ not grows‚ an economy. Government is both less innovative and less efficient than the private sector.Statistician Garth Zietsman calculated that average income earners will work five more days in 2016 than in 2015 before Tax Freedom Day. He said‚ “Given the estimated Central Government Revenues for 2016 as a percentage of GDP‚ Tax Freedom Day for 2016 is estimated to occur on May 25 – five days later than 2015. There has been a trend toward taking more of the GDP in taxes every year.”The Free Market Foundation commented: “Government is taking a steadily increasing percentage of people’s earnings‚ which means that we have to work longer every year for the government and have fewer days to work for ourselves.”“Tax that government takes is spread over the year but it is useful to illustrate just how much it is by calculating what chunk of earnings it represents to see how many days of work in the year it takes to earn the amount of money we need to pay those taxes.”Judged by international standards‚ the Foundation says SA government spending is very high – “In the worst 17% of countries in the world for our level of development”.“Even worse‚ our government spending is growing at such an alarming pace that it is using our taxes more and more for consumption spending rather than for core functions and capital projects.”