21st Century Schizoid Boy

During Fiscal Year (FY) 2008, the IRS collected more than $2.3 trillion in tax, net of refunds, 45.8 percent of which was attributable to the individual income tax.

Internal Revenue Service Data Book 2008, Published March 2009, http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/08databk.pdf.

Recap of 2008:

• The Federal IRS collected $2.3 trillion in tax:
  • $1.05 trillion from individuals’ incomes.
  • $300 billion from corporations’ incomes.
  • $877 billion from individuals’ and corporations’ income for pension funds (e.g. Social Security), medical (e.g. medicare, medicade), and unemployment & disability insurance. This is in addition to the bullets above.
  • $28 billion from estate and gift taxes.
  • $49 billion from excise taxes.
• The IRS cost $11 billion, 70% of which is for 90,647 employees.
• Average tax per individual was $8,979.
• 183 million individual and corporate returns were filed, of which 0.8% or 1.5 million were “examined.” 430 thousand were physically audited.  Chance of audit = 0.2%.
• 1,479,956 thousand Tax-exempt organizations (Table 25) (501(c)(3) through (9)).
• An estimated 4.8 million people don’t file their taxes.
• The IRS only seized property from 610 people, although it levied third parties (e.g. employers) of 2.6 million delinquents.
• The IRS launched 3,749 legal investigations with an 80% sentencing rate of those that went to trial.

Despite 3 years of overall tax rate increases, the average tax rate paid by the top 1 percent has decreased for the past 5 years, while the rates paid by the top 10 percent, 25 percent, and 50 percent all increased from 2005.

Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income (SOI) Bulletin, Winter 2009 Edition, http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/09winbul.pdf.

In 2006, the total income tax share, as a percentage, for the top X percent of taxpayers (Table 5):

• The top 1 percent paid 36.89% of all taxes.
• The top 5 percent paid 60.14% of all taxes.
• The top 10 percent paid 70.79% of all taxes.
• The top 25 percent paid 86.27% of all taxes.
• The top 50 percent paid 97.01% of all taxes.

United States Fast Facts: http://www.bts.gov/publications/state_transportation_statistics/state_transportation_statistics_2007/html/fast_facts.html.

See also historical tables: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals/