"HW "Skip" Weldon" <skip5700removethis[at]hotmail.com> wrote:
- quote -

The table at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/01in03ts.xls says that the
"AGI Cut Off (Dollar)" for the highest 50% of returns from taxpayers
filing returns that required paying and who end up paying 96.03% of
income taxes is $28,528. Those same people account for 86.19% of the
income reported on the same sample of income tax returns.

It should be noted that this table indicates that "[All figures are
estimates based on samples]" and that there were 5,267 returns filed
that had no adjusted gross income but reported income tax paid,
(mostly due to AMT) totaling $94.5 million. These individuals, along
with all others who reported a negative gross income, were not
included in the table referenced above.

The other thing I notice is that the table does not limit itself to
just wage earners.

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- quote -

It's in:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/01in03ts.xls

But to summarize:
Highest N% AGI cutoff Income Share Tax Share
50 $ 28,528 86.19% 96.03%
25 56,085 65.23% 82.90%
10 92,754 43.11% 64.89%
5 127,904 31.99% 53.25%
4 140,721 29.22% 50.02%
3 161,491 26.13% 46.20%
2 199,620 22.44% 41.32%
1 292,913 17.53% 33.89%
0.1 1,324,487 8.10% 16.06%

--
Rich Carreiro rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us

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- quote -

I found it difficult to follow so I'm restating it this way:

AGI Share of Share of
Percentile Cutoff Income Taxes
---------- ----------- -------- --------
99a $ 1,324,487 8.10% 16.06%
99b 292,913 17.53% 33.89%
99th 199,620 22.44% 41.32%
94th 140,721 29.22% 50.02%
90th 127,904 31.99% 53.25%
75th 56,085 65.23% 82.90%
50th 28,528 86.19% 96.03%
Below 50th 28,527- 13.81% 3.97%

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otax[at]hotmail.com (LoTax) wrote:

- quote -

It would be interesting to know the AGI amount that is at
the 50% level.

-HW "Skip" Weldon
Columbia, SC

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- quote -

It's a report called Number of Returns, Adjusted Gross
Income (AGI), and Total Income Tax, by Selected Percentiles,
Tax Year 2001. It's available on the IRS web site:

http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/article/0,,id=96981,00.html

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"L. T. Portella" <portella[at]NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote:
- quote -

One place is at http://www.house.gov/jec/press/2002/irs2.pdf.
I think it's the very last line of Table 1.

Another is at Rush Limbaugh's website.

There are several others that report the same data.
They must be true, I read them on the internet....

--
LoTax

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"Rich" <Rich[at]anon.com> wrote:
- quote -

Can you tell me where I could get the original IRS
publication citing that the top 50% pay 96% of all income
tax and the bottom pay only 3.97%. thank you

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"Harlan Lunsford" <hlunsfordns[at]bellsouth.net> wrote:
- quote -

Thank you for your most excellent clarifications and contributions
to the discussion.

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"Harlan Lunsford" <hlunsfordns[at]bellsouth.net> wrote:
- quote -

Why is that surprising?
The median income (household? individual? "taxpayer"?) is in
the low $40,000s. The average income of the top 1% of
taxpayers (not all wages, we presume) in 2000 was $862,700.
(Source: Congressional Budget Office report about Sept. 1.)
Depends on your views whether to be angry about the taxes
or angry about the inequalities of income.

Stewart Rowe

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LoTax wrote:
- quote -

The authority is none other than IRS income and tax statistics.
For the year 2000 it's 96.1% paid by the top 50%, and 3.9% paid
by the other 50%. Also for year 2000 it's the top 5 % of all
taxpayers who pay 56.5% of all income taxes.

Now those ARE thought "provocateering" statistics.

Cheer$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA in LA

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"LoTax" <lotax[at]hotmail.com> wrote:
- quote -

Better:
"The Top 50% of Wage Earners Pay 96.03% of All Income Taxes
All others pay only 3.97%."

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"Rich" <Rich[at]anon.com> wrote:

- quote -

This "fact" would have us believe that only wage earners pay
income taxes, i.e. that all income taxes are paid by wage
earners. I find this simply fascinating!! It just can't be
right. Specifically, I am *not* a wage earner, and I *do*
pay income taxes.

What's the cite - this better be good! - for your statistic?

Or are you just being provocateur???

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The Top 50% of Wage Earners Pay 96.03% of All Income Taxes
The bottome 50% Pay only 3.97%.

-Rich

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