Updated deduction data

August 9, 2008

In my post yesterday, one of the links went to another post about increased audits. That item included a table of average
deduction amounts.

Well, as tax fate would have it, last night as I as
going through e-mail, one of my newsletters contained a version based
on more recent figures. So below, courtesy of Kiplinger, are the average amounts for some of the more popular itemized deduction categories based on 2006 preliminary filing data.

Average Deductions, 2006 Tax Returns
AGI
Interest
Expense
State &
Local Taxes
Charity
Medical Expenses
Total Itemized Deductions      
Under $15,000
$8,761
$720
$1,373
$7,179
$14,569
$15,000
    to $30,000
$8,362
$994
$1,897
$6,720
$14,506
$30,000
    to $50,000
$8,451
$1,671
$2,123
$5,791
$15,290
50,000
    to $100,000
$9,813
$3,100
$2,673
$6,354
$19,319
$100,000
     to $200,000 
$12,982
$6,139
$3,860
$9,302
$27,820
More than $200,000
$23,274
$30,597
$18,539
$29,509
$73,995

Kiplinger notes that the total deductions column
includes casualty and theft losses, as well as miscellaneous itemized
deductions. The totals also reflect the reduction of itemized
deductions for higher-income taxpayers.

The column for state and local taxes that were
deducted includes not only income taxes, but also the sales tax totals
that some filers claim instead.

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