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Show Panguitch Taxpayers Add $807,000 to IRS Taxpayers In Panguitch paid $807,000 In federal Income taxes for the 1980 tax year, and this sum averaged $1,403 for each return filed last year. I These were some of the facts gleaned from a Utah Foundation analysis of a report recently released by the Utah State Tax Commission. According to the study, Panguitch taxpayers filed 564 federal tax returns for the 1980 tax year and reported gross income totaling $7,196,000. Thus, gross income per return averaged $12,759 for that year, and compares with a statewide average of $16,413 per return. For the state as a whole, Utahns paid $1,359,000,000 in federal and state income taxes on their 1980 incomes. Approximately $1,091,000,000 or 80 percent of this total represented federal tax payments, with the remaining $268,000,000 or 20 percent representing income tax payments to the state government. Federal and state income tax payments have multiplied 3.7 times between 1970 and 1980, according to the Foundation Adjusted gross income, on the other hand, rose only 3.2 times during this same ten-year period. As a result, the percentage of gross income going for federal and state income taxes in Utah climbed from 13.76 percent in 1970 to 15.8 percent in 1980. Major factors accounting for this steady rise in the proportion of gross income going for income taxes have been inflation and the' progressive nature of the federal and state income taxes. As incomes increase with inflation, individuals and families are pushed into higher income brackets and a large proportion of such incomes is taken for taxes. Foundation analysts point out that Congress, enacted tax legislation last year which attempts to counter this "bracket creep" by indexing the federal income tax for inflation beginning in 1985. The purpose of this indexing measure is to remove or lessen the inflation factor from the progressvie federal income tax. Similar indexing legislation also has been enacted bv about a fourth of the states that have state income taxes with progressive rates. Because of this federal indexing measure and other tax cuts enacted by Congress last year, the Foundation does not expect that the proportion of gross Income going for federal Income taxes will change appreciably in the years ahead. State income taxes in Utah, on the other hand, will continue to be affected by "bracket creep" resulting from inflation. The effect of this "bracket creep" on state taxes during the 1980s, however, probably will not be as great as it was during the 1970s, because most Utah taxpayers already are in the highest tax bracket ($7,500 and over). Altogether, 522,528 Utahns filed federal income tax returns for the 1980 tax year. These filers reported a total adjusted gross income of $8,577,114;715, for an average of $16,413 per return. The Foundation notes, however, that this average includes a large number of students and other individuals working in part-time and temporary jobs who filed a return In order to receive a tax refund. As a result, the average income per return may not be a true indicator of average family income in Utah. Approximately 451,379, or 86.4 percent of the returns filed for 1980 reported a gross income of $30,000 or less, while 71,189 or 13.6 percent reported a gross income of more than $30,000. Nearly 53 percent of the total federal income tax paid by all Utahns, however, was borne by this relatively small group earning more than $30,000 per year. At the other extreme, 211,896 in dividuals in Utah, or 40.5 percent of the total, reported a gross income of $10,000 or less. Only about 4 percent of the total federal income tax collection from Utahns came from this $10,000 and under group. About 86 percent of the total adjusted gross income in Utah during 1980 was derived from wage and salary payments, 6.5 percent from dividends and interest, 3.3 percent from pensions and annuities, and the balance from a variety of other sources, |
