Significant Turnover in the Top 400 U.S. Earners
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
The IRS has a new report on the 400 taxpayers reporting the highest adjusted gross incomes (AGI) from 1992 to 2006, summarized in the table above. The 6,000 tax returns (400 highest earners x 15 years) from 1992 to 2006 represented 3,305 unique, individual taxpayers, since some taxpayers made it into the top 400 earner group more than one year. The data show that:
1. Of the group of 3,305 top earners from 1992-2006, 2,394 individuals made it into the top 400 only one time during the 15-year period. Those 2,394 one-timers represent 72.44% of the total (3,305), so only 27.56% made it into the top 400 more than once (see columns 2 and 3).
2. Moreover, 2,394 earners made it into the top 400 once (72.44%), and another 408 (12.34%) made it into the top group twice. So 84.78% made it into the top group either once or twice, and only 15.22% made it into the top group more than twice (see columns 2 and 3).
3. There were only 8 taxpayers out of 3,305 (1/4 of 1%) who were in the top 400 in all of the 15 years.
4. In any given year, on average, about 40% of the returns were filed by taxpayers that are not in any of the other 14 years (see columns 4 and 5).
According to the IRS, “the data shown in the table mostly represent a changing group of taxpayers over time, rather than a fixed group of taxpayers.”
HT: Tax Foundation
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