Nation’s Top Taxpayers Gave Record $7.6-Billion to Charity in 2005

The nation’s top 400 taxpayers reported record total charitable donations of $7.56-billion, or an average of $19.2-million per federal tax return, in 2005, reports The Wall Street Journal.

These top-tier taxpayers also reported a total of $85.6-billion of income — an average of $213.9-million apiece — for that same year, according to Internal Revenue Service data obtained by the newspaper. To qualify as one of the top 400 taxpayers, one had to report 2005 income of at least $100.3-million, a steep rise from the $74.5-million required in 2004.

“Those numbers are really stunning,” said Michael Graetz, a professor of law at Yale Law School and a former Treasury Department official. “One hundred million dollars is an enormous estate to be accumulated over a lifetime, and not what we think of as one year’s income for anybody.”