IRS to Put an End to Its Top 400 Report

Many people believe that the nation’s wealthiest individuals already make too much money without paying their fair share of taxes. Now that billionaire Donald Trump has been elected as our country’s next president, many expect that to only get worse. However, starting next year, it will now be very difficult for anyone to really know how much of a difference Trump’s new tax policies will make to the nation’s top earners.

That’s because the IRS recently announced that it would no longer continue to release its Top 400 Report, which is an annual statistical report of the top 400 taxpayers in the country, according to adjusted gross income. This year’s report, which for now will be the last, showed just how hard the current president’s tax hikes have hit the wealthiest taxpayers over the past several years.

In 2012, the top 400 paid an effective tax rate of 16.72 percent on average adjusted gross income of $226 million. Compare that to 2014 when the same group paid an effective federal tax rate of 23.13 percent on AGI averaging $318 million. If Trump’s tax proposals are put into law then the top 400 are likely to see their effective tax rate go back down again, but now that the IRS will no longer be releasing this report, there is no way to know by exactly how much.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2016/12/01/how-much-will-trump-cut-taxes-for-top-400-well-never-know-as-irs-ends-400-report/#1acdd9db1795