Some interesting Income Tax Statistics from high-income individuals in 2007, gift tax returns in 2008 and trust income returns from 2002 through 2006.
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In tax year 2007 over 4.5 million returns were filed by taxpayers with adjusted gross income of over $200,000. This is up from 4 million in 2006. These returns account for over 3 percent of all returns filed in the 2007 tax year.
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In 2007 the 24 million individuals who itemized, reported deductions of $59 billion for noncash charitable contributions. Of those, almost 7 million reported close to $53 billion in deductions on Form 8283, Noncash Charitable Contributions. Form 8283 filers increased from 6 million in 2006, and the amounts claimed in donations increased almost 13 percent.
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In 2008, 257,000 gift tax returns were filed, 96 percent of which were nontaxable. These gifts totaled $45 billion, most of which were cash (46 percent), corporate stock (24 percent) and real estate (17 percent). The majority (52 percent) of these returns were filed by female donors.
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More than 400,000 simple trusts were analyzed in a panel study which revealed total income was $15 billion in 2002 and grew to $26 billion in 2006. During the same period, total deductions rose from $12 billion to $15 billion. Complex trusts also saw a marked increase from $28 billion in tax year 2002, to $60 billion in 2006. Total deductions for this time period, increased from $15 billion to $20 billion in 2002 and 2006 respectively.
If these statistics have peaked your interest, the Statistics of Income Bulletin is available from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954. The annual subscription rate is $53.00, if you're only interested in one issue, the cost is $39.00.