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Our newest Tax Stat for March breaks down who's itemizing deductions.
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Just over 46 million individuals returns included itemized deductions in tax year 2011 -- almost exactly a third of the total 145 million. As you'd expect, though, they were heavily skewed toward those with higher adjusted gross income.

Source: IRS Statistics of Income Bulletin, Winter 2013

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The average federal tax rate -- the average total income tax divided by the average adjusted gross income -- varies somewhat from year to year, hitting highs in the boom years of 1999 and 2000.

Source: IRS Statistics of Income Bulletin, Winter 2013

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For tax year 2011, the IRS reported receiving 145.5 million individual income tax returns altogether; by far the largest subgroup came from those with adjusted gross income under $15,000, while approximately 3 million reported AGI of $250,000 or more.

Source: IRS Statistics of Income Bulletin, Winter 2013

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By and large, taxypayers claim that they believe it's unacceptable to cheat on your taxes in roughly the same proportion as usual, with the same brave minority -- about a tenth of respondents -- willing to come out and say that a little cheating doesn't bother them.

Source: 2012 IRS Oversight Board Taxpayer Attitude Survey

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To mark the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 16th Amendment, which instate the income tax, CCH released a fascinating, if gloomy report that included a comparison of income tax rates then and now ... . Note that in 1913 there were no separate brackets for single or married filers.

Source: CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business

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