[lbo-talk] $2,150 Per Family and Counting

[Jordan Hayes]

Here's a quick summary of income tax returns from 2001:

All returns, total...........................130,255,237

   No adjusted gross income....................1,438,187

   $1 under $5,000............................12,592,044

   $5,000 under $10,000.......................12,354,102

   $10,000 under $15,000......................11,903,188

   $15,000 under $20,000......................11,476,963

   $20,000 under $25,000.......................9,971,372

   $25,000 under $30,000.......................8,563,035

   $30,000 under $40,000......................13,843,640

   $40,000 under $50,000......................10,612,617

   $50,000 under $75,000......................17,559,778

   $75,000 under $100,000......................8,903,894

   $100,000 under $200,000.....................8,469,199

   $200,000 under $500,000.....................2,018,372

   $500,000 under $1,000,000.....................355,617

   $1,000,000 under $1,500,000....................85,479

   $1,500,000 under $2,000,000....................36,491

   $2,000,000 under $5,000,000....................52,157

   $5,000,000 under $10,000,000...................12,266

   $10,000,000 or more.............................6,836

That looks like about 25% of all returns have an AGI of $40k to $75k.

Nontaxable returns, total.....................35,491,707
Taxable returns, total........................94,763,530

   No adjusted gross income........................5,267

   $1 under $5,000.............................1,574,822

   $5,000 under $10,000........................4,885,117

   $10,000 under $15,000.......................6,467,466

   $15,000 under $20,000.......................7,323,371

   $20,000 under $25,000.......................7,005,904

   $25,000 under $30,000.......................7,053,931

   $30,000 under $40,000......................12,845,487

   $40,000 under $50,000......................10,307,873

   $50,000 under $75,000......................17,392,169

   $75,000 under $100,000......................8,877,210

   $100,000 under $200,000.....................8,461,079

   $200,000 under $500,000.....................2,015,905

   $500,000 under $1,000,000.....................355,075

   $1,000,000 or more............................192,854

So almost 20% of taxable returns are between $50k and $75k of AGI.
Another 20% are above that.  About 23% are between $30k and $50k.  And
the rest are under $30k.

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These are ALL returns, not "average families" ... about 51M of the 130M
returns were "Married, filing jointly" ... here are those numbers:

All returns, total............................51,034,384

   No adjusted gross income......................466,421

   $1 under $5,000...............................657,602

   $5,000 under $10,000........................1,304,696

   $10,000 under $15,000.......................2,036,838

   $15,000 under $20,000.......................2,562,810

   $20,000 under $25,000.......................2,615,866

   $25,000 under $30,000.......................2,468,412

   $30,000 under $40,000.......................5,001,147

   $40,000 under $50,000.......................5,327,662

   $50,000 under $75,000......................11,918,849

   $75,000 under $100,000......................7,246,383

   $100,000 under $200,000.....................7,230,313

   $200,000 under $500,000.....................1,734,924

   $500,000 under $1,000,000.....................301,226

   $1,000,000 under $1,500,000....................71,801

   $1,500,000 under $2,000,000....................30,428

   $2,000,000 under $5,000,000....................43,421

   $5,000,000 under $10,000,000...................10,062

   $10,000,000 or more.............................5,522

So that looks like 24% of them are $50k to $75k.  About 20% are above
$30k but under $50k.  Another 30% are above $75k but below $500k.  So
$60k isn't all that far off from "average family" I guess.  But note how
skewed "Married, Joint" is to the upside.

/jordan