Another Open Data Quick Dive: Metro Taxes

This Data Dive focuses on one of the many datasets found on the IRS’s website. In the Individual Tax Statistics section of the site, you can find compiled data for almost every line item on tax returns submitted for a given year, broken down by state, county, or zip code. We took county data for the most recent year available (2013, i.e. all tax returns filed in 2014) and aggregated county data up to census metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). We then joined this data to annual population estimates for these regions for 2013. We will look primarily at how the average income tax rates compare across metro areas in the country, as well as numbers related to the Earned Income Tax Credit and the educator expenses deduction. Particular focus will be given to the Metro Detroit area and how it compares to the metro areas surrounding the following Rust Belt cities: Baltimore, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis.