Friday, August 05, 2011

COP: IRS: 235,000 millionaires

JENNIFER EPSTEIN | 8/5/11 6:51 AM EDT Updated: 8/5/11

President Barack Obama and many Democrats are talking about raising taxes on the wealthy, and new data released this week by the Internal Revenue Service reveals new details about the number of Americans who fit that bill.

People and households earning $1 million or more annually made up just 0.1 percent, or just over 235,000, of the 140 million tax returns filed in 2009, and just 8,274 returns were filed by people making $10 million or more.

Though the tax rate for Americans earning a gross adjusted income of $1 million or more averaged 24.4 percent, up from 23.1 percent in 2008, that’s still lower than the 28.5 percent rate they paid in 2002 when President George W. Bush was in office.

And, the data shows, the 235,413 taxpayers who reported earning seven digits or more in 2009 took in a total of $726.9 billion — yet 1,470 paid not a penny of income taxes. In 2007, 959 Americans earning $1 million or more paid no income taxes.

The returns filed in 2009 reflect income from 2008, the deepest depths of the recession and financial crisis, and, under that backdrop, incomes fell sharply.

The vast majority of tax return filers – more than 97 percent – reported incomes of less than $200,000. The average income was $54,283, a drop of more than $3,500, or 6 percent, from 2008. That put the average income at its lowest level since 1997.

At the same time, the average tax rate declined from 12.5 percent in 2008 to 11.4 percent in 2009.

The amount of unemployment benefits claimed on tax returns nearly doubled between 2008 and 2009, the IRS found.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60717.html#ixzz1UAJI68Wn


Comment: This amounts to .1% of the USA population. This group already contributes 40% of the entire amount of taxes paid by citizens, while 50% of USA citizens do not pay ANY income taxes. Conclusion, Obama's desire to increase the tax burden upon a .1% of the population is discrimination beyond belief; however, because these are "rich"people they are an easy target and it is an intentional strategy to denigratea segment of our population-shameful behavior!

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