Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty ...

We're free at last!

That's right! Today is Tax Freedom Day!

If you're unfamiliar with Tax Freedom Day, let me explain it to you. If you're an 'average' American, you've worked every day so far this year simply to pay the government what they take out of your paycheck each year. You worked the first 113 days of the year this year just to pay the government what they demand from you.

That's more days worked simply to pay the government than what the average American works to pay for housing and household operations (60 days), food (35 days), and clothing (13 days) COMBINED, according to MSN Money.

But, as of today, you're free! The money you make from this day until January 1st of next year is yours! Take it and do with it what you want!

Now, keep in mind, that there are 43% of Americans that don't pay taxes and actually get money from the government -- they had their 'Tax Freedom Day' for this year on December 31st, 2007. And, depending on your state, your Tax Freedom Day may come slightly earlier or later -- Alaska gets theirs March 29th while those in Connecticut have to wait until May 8th.

And, of course, there are those in the 'Wealthiest 1%' who don't get to celebrate Tax Freedom Day for a while yet because of our progressive 'tax the rich' system.

Today is, after all, just the 'average' day when we all get together and celebrate our freedom from enslavement to the government tax system.

But, even our worst off still have it better than some. In the United Kingdom, for example,Tax Freedom Day isn't celebrated until around June 1st. For Canadians, it's not until around June 28th -- meaning that the unlucky folks north of the border work nearly half of the year simply to pay their taxes.

So, now that you're done paying your debt to the government, go! Spend your money!

• Buy things for yourself -- that you'll likely pay sales taxes on.
• Put gas in your car -- which is taxed at an even higher rate.
• Enjoy what you've already got -- that you're probably paying property taxes on.
• Invest your money -- and pay capital gains taxes.
• Or, you can go for the other half of Ben Franklin's 'death and taxes' truism and just curl up and die -- and then your family can pay estate taxes on the money you had.

Enjoy your freedom!