I was a stay at home mom until my youngest was in first grade.  Then a changing family situation dictated that I get a full-time job taking me away from my home.

The most important aspect of my job is my schedule. It must be flexible so that I am available for my kids whether it’s for a doctor’s appointment, school conference or after school athletics. I realize that this requirement greatly impacts the amount of money I make, but that’s my choice and a tradeoff that I am more than willing to make.

My income, while necessary to pay the bills, serves as a reminder of time spent away from my kids. That’s why the latest report  from Americans for Tax Reform titled “The Cost of Government” enraged me. (A special thanks to my friend Ben DeGrow for bringing it to my attention.  He’s now an accomplice to putting me in a bad mood.)

I’m not foolish enough to think that all the money I earn each year simply goes to me so that I can feed, clothe and care for my children.  There is a cost to government that we all must share, but it never occurred to me that the cost of government was so high.  According to Americans for Tax Reform:

Cost of Government Day for 2010 is August 19. On average, working people must toil 231 days out of the year just to meet all costs imposed by government. In other words, the cost of government consumes 63.41 percent of national income.

Because I live in Colorado, I get to pay for two additional days.  Cost of Government Day for Coloradans is August 21, 2010. Government at all levels consumes an outrageous 64 percent of my gross income and yours as well. Taxpayers worked 104 days to pay for federal spending, 52 days to pay for state and local spending, 48 days for to pay for federal regulations and 26 for state and local regulations. Government’s insatiable appetite for the fruits of my labor — labor that takes me away from kids — is not exactly family friendly. I’ve come to realize that government spending is not a family value.

And what did I get for my 64 percent? New shoes? A babysitter? School supplies? Dinner perhaps? No! I get mediocre (lousy in some cases), overpriced public education, roads in disrepair and government at all levels begging for more of my money because it’s addicted to spending.

If one of the goals of the feminist movement was to dismantle a “sexist” power structure, it failed miserably.  A majority of the fruits of my labor still are going to “the man.” Now “the man” is government.