Floyd Norris digs up the dirt on US income, via the SOI Tax Stats of the IRS:
– In 2008, Americans reported $8.4 trillion in total income, down 4.6% 2007.
– Inflation adjusted, that is down 8.4% — the sharpest decline in total income since 1990.
– Biggest source of decline: Falls in Investment Income and sharp drops in Capital Gains.
– total wage and salary income was +1.9%; adjusted for inflation, it was -1.9%.
– Tax returns of $1 million plus fell by 22% to 321,294.
– 13,480 tax returns that reported income of more than $10 million — 36% smaller than the prior year.
– In the above $10m+ group, of the $400 billion in income was reported, only 19% came from wages and salaries, much less than cap gains (despite bad stock market).
– Tax returns with negative income (realized losses > than total income) leaped 31% to 2.5 million.
– 462 returns that reported some income from gambling, totaling 2.6 billion, or $5.6 million per return (average).
Fascinating stuff . . .
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Source:
In ’08 Downturn, Some Managed to Eke Out Millions
FLOYD NORRIS
NYT, July 23, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/business/economy/24charts.html
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