May 16, 2002 | Read Time: 1 minute
Deductions claimed by Americans for charitable contributions rose from $125.8-billion in 1999 to
an estimated $133.6-billion in 2000, an increase of 6.2 percent, the Internal Revenue Service said. The increase would mark the first time in five years that charitable deductions claimed by individuals failed to rise by at least 10 percent, although the IRS is likely to revise the figures before making them final.
The percentage of individual returns that included write-offs for donations edged up in 2000 to 29.1 percent of all returns, the highest share recorded in at least a decade. The average contribution claimed rose from $3,541 in 1999 to $3,556 in 2000.
The IRS published the data in its newly released Statistics of Income Bulletin for winter 2001/2002. The report may be obtained for $34 from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15250-7954; or online at http://www.irs.gov.
