CRS Report Answers Taxpayers' Income Tax Questions
CRS Report Answers Taxpayers' Income Tax Questions
- AuthorsSolomon, Arnold D.
- Institutional AuthorsCongressional Research Service
- Code Sections
- Subject Area/Tax Topics
- Index Termsincome tax, individualsCRS
- Jurisdictions
- LanguageEnglish
- Tax Analysts Document NumberDoc 1999-36604 (2 original pages)
- Tax Analysts Electronic Citation1999 TNT 221-17
CRS REPORT FOR CONGRESS
Arnold D. Solomon
Information Research Specialist
Information Research Division
SUMMARY
These basic statistics provide answers to some of the most
frequently asked questions concerning the federal individual
income tax, including the number of returns filed, average tax
per return, and income tax as percentage of adjusted gross
income. This report will be updated annually as the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) releases updated statistics.
[1] The statistics provided by this fact sheet answer some of the most frequently requested information on the federal individual income tax data, including:
o Number of tax returns filed
o Total taxes collected
o Average tax per tax return by adjusted gross income
o Federal income tax as a percentage of adjusted gross income.
[2] The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) uses adjusted gross income (AGI) in its statistical reports. AGI is gross income of taxpayers (single, joint filers, or head of household) less qualified adjustments. Examples of these adjustments include payments to retirement plans such as Keogh or IRA, forfeited interest penalties, and alimony payments.
[3] The statistics provided in this report are for tax year 1997 and were published in the IRS's Statistics of Income Bulletin, spring 1999. For more detailed definitions of tax terms, see CRS Report RL30110, Federal Individual Income Tax Terms: An Explanation. Note that the number of tax returns filed is not the same as the estimated number of taxpayers, since it is not possible with joint returns to determine if all income was earned by one spouse or if both spouses contributed to family income. For more information on the number of taxpayers, see CRS Report RS20322, Number of Federal Individual Income Taxpayers: Fact Sheet.
TABLE 1. INDIVIDUAL FEDERAL INCOME TAX STATISTICS FOR 1997 1
_____________________________________________________________________
Size of Adjusted Gross Number of Average Tax
Income Tax Returns (whole dollars)
_____________________________________________________________________
TOTAL 122,504,288 $ 7,834
No adjusted gross income 893,253 14,492
$1 under $1,000 2,003,366 58
$1,000 under $3,000 6,101,803 101
$3,000 under $5,000 5,812,999 145
$5,000 under $7,000 5,483,585 292
$7,000 under $9,000 5,217,902 292
$9,000 under $11,000 5,412,571 515
$11,000 under $13,000 5,259,285 725
$13,000 under $15,000 5,252,180 872
$15,000 under $17,000 4,808,566 1,112
$17,000 under $19,000 4,466,071 1,320
$19,000 under $22,000 6,460,257 1,528
$22,000 under $25,000 5,652,166 1,891
$25,000 under $30,000 8,067,454 2,372
$30,000 under $40,000 12,985,040 3,347
$40,000 under $50,000 9,768,567 4,796
$50,000 under $75,000 15,203,124 7,287
$75,000 under $100,000 6,497,275 12,454
$100,000 under $200,000 5,359,647 23,561
$200,000 under $500,000 1,393,441 71,339
$500,000 under $1,000,000 263,178 196,610
$1,000,000 or more 142,556 856,721
_____________________________________________________________________
[Table continued]
_____________________________________________________________________
Total Income Tax
Size of Adjusted Gross Tax as Percentage (in thousands of
Income of AGI dollars)
_____________________________________________________________________
TOTAL 15.4 $732,582,380
No adjusted gross income See below 2 62,286
$1 under $1,000 7.1 20,233
$1,000 under $3,000 5.3 171,081
$3,000 under $5,000 3.5 257,720
$5,000 under $7,000 4.9 479,256
$7,000 under $9,000 3.6 829,812
$9,000 under $11,000 5.2 1,634,258
$11,000 under $13,000 6.0 2,257,449
$13,000 under $15,000 6.2 2,901,114
$15,000 under $17,000 7.0 3,513,282
$17,000 under $19,000 7.3 3,935,326
$19,000 under $22,000 7.5 7,874,741
$22,000 under $25,000 8.0 9,410,285
$25,000 under $30,000 8.6 18,700,079
$30,000 under $40,000 9.6 43,190,943
$40,000 under $50,000 10.7 46,625,417
$50,000 under $75,000 12.0 110,552,832
$75,000 under $100,000 14.5 80,820,422
$100,000 under $200,000 17.9 126,204,744
$200,000 under $500,000 24.7 99,349,332
$500,000 under $1,000,000 29.2 51,715,943
$1,000,000 or more 29.5 122,075,822
_____________________________________________________________________
FOOTNOTES TO TABLE
1 Preliminary statistics for tax year 1997.
2 In addition to low income taxpayers, this size class
includes taxpayers with tax preferences not reflected in adjusted
gross income or taxable income which we subject to the alternative
minimum tax.
- AuthorsSolomon, Arnold D.
- Institutional AuthorsCongressional Research Service
- Code Sections
- Subject Area/Tax Topics
- Index Termsincome tax, individualsCRS
- Jurisdictions
- LanguageEnglish
- Tax Analysts Document NumberDoc 1999-36604 (2 original pages)
- Tax Analysts Electronic Citation1999 TNT 221-17