It's the most wonderful time of the year ... for tax collectors, that is.

The Tax Foundation tells us that Tax Freedom Day won't come for another week. Meanwhile, Dave Barry offers a partial explanation for it all: "the Catfish Genome Project is crucial to achieving a vital national goal that we all share: reelecting the Alabama congresspersons who stuck it in the federal budget."

Barry's column is focused on federal lawmakers, but no fear, there is plenty of pork at the state level, as tested to in piglet books produced by groups across the country.