Drop in Number of Wealthy Who Owe Taxes
October 2, 2004
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Nearly 3,400 of the tax returns reporting
incomes of $200,00 or more showed they owed
no federal income taxes in 2001, a rise of
nearly 45 percent over 2000, according
to government data released yesterday.
In 2000 there were 2,328 returns for individuals and couples with adjusted gross income of $200,000 or more who owed no federal taxes, compared with 3,385 a year later.
Last year, for the first time since 1977, the first year for which the Internal Revenue Service reported on wealthy taxpayers, there were fewer returns reporting income at the $200,000 level than in the previous year. In 2001, some 2.57 million returns, or 1.97 percent of the 130.26 million returns filed, showed adjusted gross income of $200,000 or more. In 2000, there were 2.77 million returns, or 2.14 percent of the 129.37 million filed, at that level.
Measured in constant 1976 dollars, however, there were fluctuations over the years. The I.R.S. said in its Statistics on Income report, that 45,931 returns met the threshold level, or one-half of 1 percent of those filed, in 1977, and the number generally rose to 391,901 in 2001, when three-tenths of 1 percent qualified in terms of constant 1976 dollars.
The I.R.S. report cites several reasons for wealthy Americans not owing federal income taxes. They include: taxes paid to foreign governments for which an American credit is granted; a high portion of income from tax-exempt bonds; high itemized deductions for investment interest expenses, medical expenses, casualty and theft losses and charitable contributions; partnership and S corporation net losses that are reported on individual returns; and various tax credits.
nytimes.com
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
|
