I’m guessing it’s a select group of people who take advantage of the IRS issued 2010 Tax Statistics card. I snagged this rare gem based on reading an article suggesting the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration believes that fraudulent tax returns have increased by 50% over the past year. My question was – up 50% from what number? That’s a big increase, even if the base is pretty low. Unfortunately as of yet, I do not have the answer to that question. Still, it turns out that when it comes to statistics about taxes there’s plenty of them out there.
Back to the big catch of the day -- the Tax Stats at a Glance card. (Did I mention it’s in color?) It turns out only a third of individuals filing tax returns last year had itemized deductions. However, almost 58% of individual filers used a paid tax preparer for their return. From where I sit, this is very good news. If economic models were correct, then it’s my belief the number of people who pay to get their taxes done would correlate highly with the complexity of their tax return. However, the good news (if you’re an accountant) is that the belief in the inherent incomprehensibility of the US tax code apparently trumps the reality of a relatively straightforward tax year for an individual taxpayer.
It turns out a little upwards of 300-thousand individual taxpayers have an AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) of more than $1 million. California has the highest number of the $1-million plus returns. Vermont has the fewest resident members of the millionaires club, only 389 residents from the Green Mountain state earned (or rather admitted earning)more than one million greenbacks. On the other hand almost 25-million taxpayers nationwide received some earned income tax credit.
Last, but not least – roughly 112 million people qualified for the approximately $324 billion in refunds issued last year. Which brings me to my end of the year admonition to pay taxes responsibly and therefore avoid “intaxication”. For those of you not familiar with this condition it is defined as “Euphoria at getting a refund from the IRS, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.”
