Everyone knows April 15th as the day federal income tax returns are due. But, later that month, on April 30th, we celebrate a somewhat lesser-known occasion – Tax Freedom Day. That day marks the point at which the average American stops working to pay federal, state, and local taxes (and starts working to pay all the other bills). Of course, most workers have their taxes withheld year-round, but Tax Freedom Day really makes us sit up and take notice of the fact that we’ve just spent the past seventy days working for Uncle Sam and Indiana, not for ourselves!

Every time I hear someone talking about Tax Freedom Day, I can’t help thinking we should have another kind of Freedom Day, namely Credit Card Freedom Day. Needless to say, as a bankruptcy attorney in Indiana who counsels with thousands of taxpayers every year, I know all too well how much people crave freedom – and need to be freed – from credit card debt. I mean, if you are stuck making minimum payments only on credit cards, why, you could be working four hours a day just to pay credit card interest! Real freedom for you could be a lot, lot further into the year than April 30th!

Many people can celebrate Tax Freedom Day,but for many of the people I help in my bankruptcy law practice, bankruptcy is the only way they can stop making the credit card companies richer and themselves poorer and poorer. Bankruptcy can mean the freedom to work hard paying for your future, rather than continuously paying the credit card companies for your past!