January 27, 2000 | Read Time: 1 minute
New statistics released by the Internal Revenue Service show that the deductions that Americans claimed for charitable contributions rose from $86.2-billion in 1996 to an estimated $99.2-billion in 1997, an increase of 15.1 per cent. The jump was the largest registered in the 1990s, edging out the 14.9-per-cent increase reported from 1995 to 1996. One reason behind the increase, the I.R.S. said, was a 31-per-cent rise in “other than cash contributions.”
Last year, the revenue service released preliminary figures that showed a smaller, 11.2-per-cent increase in the total amount written off from 1996 to 1997 (The Chronicle, July 15). The tax agency updates its numbers as it continues to analyze data on taxpayers.
The revised statistics show that the average contribution claimed on each return rose from $2,727 in 1996 to $3,041 in 1997. Preliminary figures had shown a smaller increase — to $2,944 — in 1997.
Despite the rejiggered figures, the percentage of individual returns that included write-offs for donations was essentially unchanged in the latest I.R.S. report: 26.6 per cent in 1997, which was up from 26.2 per cent in 1996.
The revenue service published the revised data in its Statistics of Income Bulletin for fall 1999. Copies may be obtained for $19 from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh 15250-7954.
