UTAH INCOME TAX RETURN DATA FOR 2002
This publication is a description of data from the 2002 Utah
state income tax returns. An income tax file is always dynamic, with late
returns, amended returns, and audits changing the data. This means that in small
ways the results depend on when the data to be analyzed is captured. This
report analyzes the 2002 return data as of early March of 2004. It is
mainly a resource for answering many varied data questions.
State income tax returns include both full-year residents and
non-residents. Non-residents includes those who moved in or out during the
year, and as those who never lived here but still have income from the state.
We have presented broad summary data for non-residents, since detailed data is
difficult or meaningless to interpret.
STATISTICAL MEASURES
The general strategy has been to report statistical points for the most
important lines on the state form, with different tables according to residency
and filing status (Married, Single, etc), of the taxpayer. When not using an
income breakdown, we have reported percentage deciles, as well as the mean, and
the median. For many lines on the form, most taxpayers will either have a
zero or no entry. Thus, our calculations will include only those with a
meaningful entry. For example, the data for the retirement exemption will
only cover those who had a non-zero amount. For the adjusted gross income
line and exemption line zero entries are included, being valid amounts.
Table 5, rather than using an arbitrary income division which gets outdated
over many years, uses income deciles relevant to the group being examined.
“Lower income” and “Upper income” shows the income range.
A brief review of statistical terms for those not using them every day
follows:
Mean is the total dollar amount divided by the number of returns claiming a
value.
Median is the middle value.
Decile divides the values into tenths. For example the bottom decile reports
the value dividing the bottom 10 percent from the top 90 percent, or the sixth
decile divides the bottom 60 percent from the top 40 percent.
These issues will become clearer as we examine specific tables.
THE TABLES.
The State Table BY AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) reports for all full-year residents using
traditional but arbitrary income brackets. It reports the number of returns,
the amount of adjusted gross income, state income taxes, an effective tax
rate and number of exemptions. The table labeled “calendar year” is for the
2002 returns only.
Table 1 reports, for various residency and filing status groupings, the number
of all returns filed and the deciles for adjusted gross income. It also reports
the 5 percent and 95 percentage point breaks. These decile groupings are those
used to define income groups on table 5.
Table 2 reports for each of the major lines, where data is available, various
statistical measures for all taxpayers.
Table 3 is similar to table two, but broken down by residency. (Some lines
may seem to be missing where there are narrower breakdowns, this is to prevent
disclosure problems)
Table 4 is similar to table two, but it only includes full-year-residents and
with a filing status breakdown.
Table 5 reports by filing status for full-year-residents using an income breakdown
based on adjusted gross income deciles. Not all tax form lines are reported
to avoid disclosure problems and some values have been omitted for the same
reason. To be reported a line has to have been used by more than 10,000 taxpayers
and data within a line for a filing status that represents less than 10 taxpayers
has been deleted.
There has been some interest in the past in
the number of taxpayers and amount of income taxed at the highest rate, 7%.
Table 6 responds to this interest, but includes only
those with a positive tax liability who are full year residents. It reports
for all taxpayers as well as by filing status. Those who are in all brackets
except the top are labeled lower bracket and the remainder is the top bracket.
All percentages are relative to the total for all groups and all brackets.
We will use the top bracket, married-joint case to explain the table. There
are 332,038 taxpayers in this group and they are 47.6 percent of all taxpayers
included in the table. They had $17,134 million in taxable income, which was
75.1% of all taxable income. Of that income, $2,864million was taxed at less
than the top rate, which comprised 12.6% of all taxable income. The rest of
their income, $14,269 million was taxed at the top rate and that income was
62.6 % of all taxable income. Looking at the third line, 81.7% of all returns
were in the top bracket and they had 98.2% of taxable income; 80.4% of all
taxable income was taxed at the top rate.
Table 7: County data details tax liability data
by county and by whether it was reported by a full year resident or a part-year
or non-resident. The out of state data is from taxpayers whose mailing address
was not in Utah. The “other Utah” is from those who used an invalid Zip code
but where the first two digits indicate Utah, i.e. 84???.
FIDUCUARY RETURNS
Table 8
In addition to individuals, trusts pay income taxes in Utah. Table
8 shows the taxes paid by fiduciaries according to the size of the taxes paid.