Chapter One QR Reference

Article on IRS not discontinuing data:

http://taxfoundation.org/blog/irs-reverses-course-will-continue-providing-migration-data

What is AGI?

When you file your federal taxes, you calculate your adjusted gross income. AGI includes all sources of income, both active and passive, such as:

• Wages and salaries
• Business income
• Interest and dividends
• Capital gains
• Rent, royalties, and alimony
• Pensions, life insurance, and annuity income
• Inheritances

AGI – or aggregate income, as it is also called – represents income before taxes. I refer to it as working wealth because it is what people earn; it’s their total income, and it represents the strongest indicator of a person’s wealth before taxes.

Again, we took the most recent taxpayer data files available from the IRS, 1995-2010. This 15-year period offers a broad view that favors no single president, administration, congress, or state- or local-level representation. This is income information from the most official source: the IRS. It reflects an expansive view of the American economy and offers a big picture overview rather than a single snapshot of income migration. And when we step back, we can see a clear pattern of movement: money moved from high-tax states to low-tax states.