OCR Text |
Show Ucorwie flenses increasing) DGver tffoeira income in Utfcah eral and state income taxes ted from Utahns have been rising -; than income during the 1970's. as reported by Utah Foundation, ivate tax research organization, analysis of income tax returns n Utah. Wording to the Foundation report, ' ":ed gross income in Utah rose by . rCent between 1970 and 1978, or an '.ge of 12.2 percent per year. g this same period, federal in-" in-" taxes collected from Utahns grew by 167 percent, or 13.1 percent per year, state income taxes climbed by 231 percent, or 16.1 percent per year, and combined (federal and state) income taxes increased by 178 percent, or 13.6 percent per year. Because federal and state income taxes have been rising faster than income, in-come, the average combined federal and state tax rate has climbed steadily from 13.7 percent of adjusted gross income in 1970 to 15.2 percent in 1978. A major reason for this steady increase in the average effective tax rate during the 1970's is that taxpayers are moving into higher tax brackets because of inflation. Inflation, therefore, provides a tax boost under a progressive rate structure even if there is no change in the actual tax rates. The Foundation study also notes that the state income tax is rising in relation to the federal income tax collected in Utah. During 1970 state income tax collections were equal to 20.8 percent of the federal income taxes in Utah. By 1978. the percentage of state income taxes to federal had climbed to 25.0 percent. Foundation analysts indicate that there were 6,164 federal income tax returns filed in Uintah County for the 1978 tax year. These returns reported a total of $83,211,000 in gross income for the year, or an average of $13,500 per return. A total of $9,672,000 in federal income taxes were paid by Uintah County residents that year. In Duchesne County, 4,044 federal income tax returns were filed in 1978 for a total of $52,557,000 in gross income or an average of $12,996 per return. A total of $5,491,000 in federal income taxes were paid by Duchesne County residents in 1978. In Daggett County 256 federal income tax returns were filed in 1978 for a total of $2,921,000 in gross income, or an average of $11,410 per return. A total of $277,000 in federal income taxes, were paid by Daggett county residents in 1978, according to the Utah Foundation analysis. Among the other interesting facts uncovered by the Foundation analysis are the following: 1. Although returns with adjusted gross income of more than $25,000 represent only 13.8 percent of the federal returns filed for 1978, they accounted for nearly 55 percent of the total federal tax liability in Utah for that year. On the other hand, tax returns with adjusted gross incomes of $10,000 or less represented 46.5 percent of the tax returns filed and accounted for less than 6 percent of the federal taxes coIiecieU. 2. The top 50 percent of the taxpayer returns filed in Utah for 1978 (those with adjusted gross incomes of $11,100 or more) accounted for moije than 92 percent of all federal incomes taxes paid in the state. Conversely, the bottom 50 percent of the returns filed accounted for less than 8 percent of the federal income taxes collected in Utah. 3. The bottom 25 percent of the taxpayer tax-payer returned filed in Utah , contributed con-tributed less than ' '2 of 1 percent of the total federal income taxes collected in the state. 4. More than 80 percent of the federal income taxes collected in Utah is paid by the residents of four counties Salt Lake, Weber, Utah, and Davis. These four counties accounted for $676 million in federal individual income taxes during the 1978 tax year, or 82.4 percent of the state total. 5. Average adjusted gross income as reported to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service in 1978 ranged from $9,266 per return in Piute County to $15,596 in Morgan County. Statewide, gross income in-come in Utah averaged $13,823 per return. 6. A total of nearly one-half million individual income tax returns were filed in Utah for the 1978 tax year. 7. Although itemized returns accounted ac-counted for only 43.4 percent of the tax returns filed for 1978, they were responsible for 71.3 percent of the total state income tax collections for that year. |