One of the inquiring public’s most frequently asked taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. questions is how many people in the entire country file a tax return. A common related question is how many people aren’t obliged to pay any income tax when they file a tax return. We take our answers straight from the IRS, and here they are for 2005.
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Four Types of Tax Returns |
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Single People |
Couples |
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All |
Individual |
Head of |
Joint |
Filing |
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Returns |
Returns |
Household |
Return |
Separately |
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| Total Returns |
134,372,678 |
59,347,974 |
19,985,059 |
52,505,729 |
2,462,804 |
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| Paying Returns |
90,593,079 |
41,900,154 |
6,572,893 |
40,081,458 |
2,004,781 |
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| Non-paying Returns |
43,779,599 |
17,447,820 |
13,412,166 |
12,424,271 |
458,023 |
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| Fraction of Returns Non-paying | 32.58% | 29.40% | 67.11% | 23.66% | 18.60% |