G-DAE Working Paper No. 03-01: “Read My Lips: More New Tax Cuts”
Table 2. Distribution of Dividend Income by AGI Category, 2000 Tax Returns
|
AGI Category |
Number of |
Number of |
Amount of |
Average |
|
No AGI11 |
1,146 |
382 |
$1,576 |
$1,375 |
|
$1 under $5,000________ |
12,803 |
2,024 |
1,126 |
________88 |
|
$5,000 under $10,000 |
12,802 |
1,605 |
1,904 |
_______149 |
|
$10,000 under $15,000 |
12,111 |
1,623 |
2,667 |
220 |
|
$15,000 under $20,000 |
11,662 |
1,588 |
3,193 |
274 |
|
$20,000 under $25,000 |
9,993 |
1,417 |
2,492 |
249 |
|
$25,000 under $30,000 |
8,369 |
1,355 |
2,618 |
313 |
|
$30,000 under $40,000 |
13,547 |
2,927 |
5,391 |
398 |
|
$40,000 under $50,000 |
10,412 |
2,712 |
6,288 |
604 |
|
$50,000 under $75,000 |
17,076 |
6,303 |
14,572 |
853 |
|
$75,000 under $100,000 |
8,597 |
4,340 |
12,569 |
1,462 |
|
$100,000 under $200,000 |
8,083 |
5,430 |
26,866 |
3,324 |
|
$200,000 under $500,000 |
2,136 |
1,836 |
23,168 |
10,848 |
|
$500,000 under $1,000,000 |
396 |
368 |
11,465 |
28,943 |
|
$1,000,000 under $1,500,000 |
100 |
________95 |
5,163 |
51,882 |
|
$1,500,000 under $2,000,000 |
_______45 |
________43 |
3,489 |
78,266 |
|
$2,000,000 under $5,000,000 |
_______67 |
_____65 |
8,072 |
120,901 |
|
$5,000,000 under $10,000,000 |
18 |
17 |
4,694 |
266,578 |
|
$10,000,000 or more |
_________11 |
__________11 |
9,673 |
862,542 |
|
TOTAL |
129,374 |
34,141 |
$146,986 |
$1,136 |
To further explore the distribution of dividend income, we can plot the cumulative
proportion of tax returns, arranged from lowest to highest, against the cumulative
proportion of dividend income. This plot is similar to a Lorenz curve, commonly used to
illustrate inequality in the income distribution. 12 As seen in Figure 1, the plot displays a
high degree of curvature, indicating a significant level of inequality. The bottom half of
taxpayers received only about 10% of all dividend income. About 65% of all dividend
income accrued to the highest 10% of taxpayers while the top ½% of taxpayers received
about 30% of dividend income.
Similar to analyses of income distribution, one can calculate a Gini coefficient based on
the distribution of dividend income (see Appendix 1 for the details of calculating a Gini
coefficient). Approximate calculations indicate that the Gini coefficient for dividend
11 Includes individuals with zero or negative AGI. For example, a sole proprietor claiming a net loss could
have a negative AGI yet still claim positive dividend income.
12 Note that this plot is not exactly analogous to a Lorenz curve. A Lorenz curve plots the distribution of
income ordered by income. Figure 1 plots dividend income ordered by AGI, not ordered by dividend
income.