I got the data from IRS taxstats. The most recent data on Tax stats site is from 2011. Specifically Individual Complete Report (Publication 1304), Table 2.1
46,293,834 returns claimed itemized deductions in 2011.
If you add it all up, theres over $1.2 trillion in itemized deductions.
If the 46 million filers instead claimed a $6100 single deduction they'd have $282 B in deductions and its likely more than that since many itemizers are married or heads of households. The standard deductions would be somewhere between $282B and $564B.
Over 2/3 of the amount deducted is for taxes and homeownership. I broke down the total deductions into major categories and here's how they stack up :
I put the deduction for real estate property taxes into its own category of home/tax as its both a homeowner related deduction and a tax deduction.
Here's the break down first ranked by the total people claiming the deduction :
| deduction | # returns | $ billion |
| Real
estate taxes |
40.1 | $173 |
| Home mortgage interest | 36.0 | $364 |
| Cash contributions |
34.6 | $139 |
| state/local income tax | 33.7 | $266 |
| Other
than cash contributions |
22.5 | $44 |
| Tax
preparation fees |
22.1 | $7 |
| Personal
property taxes |
19.9 | $8 |
| Unreimbursed
employee business expenses |
14.7 | $77 |
| state/local sales tax | 10.9 | $16 |
| Medical and dental expenses deduction | 10.4 | $44 |
| Other
limited miscellaneous deductions |
7.9 | $38 |
| Qualified
mortgage insurance premiums |
4.5 | $5 |
| Deductible points | 2.7 | $1 |
| Other taxes |
2.6 | $2 |
| Investment
interest expense deduction |
1.5 | $13 |
| Gambling
loss deduction |
0.9 | $18 |
| Miscellaneous
deductions other than gambling |
0.4 | $2 |
And next sorted based on the dollar value of the total amount deducted :
| deduction | # returns | $ billion |
| Home mortgage interest | 36.0 | $364 |
| state/local income tax | 33.7 | $266 |
| Real
estate taxes |
40.1 | $173 |
| Cash contributions |
34.6 | $139 |
| Unreimbursed
employee business expenses |
14.7 | $77 |
| Medical and dental expenses deduction | 10.4 | $44 |
| Other
than cash contributions |
22.5 | $44 |
| Other
limited miscellaneous deductions |
7.9 | $38 |
| Gambling
loss deduction |
0.9 | $18 |
| state/local sales tax | 10.9 | $16 |
| Investment
interest expense deduction |
1.5 | $13 |
| Personal
property taxes |
19.9 | $8 |
| Tax
preparation fees |
22.1 | $7 |
| Qualified
mortgage insurance premiums |
4.5 | $5 |
| Miscellaneous
deductions other than gambling |
0.4 | $2 |
| Other taxes |
2.6 | $2 |
| Deductible points | 2.7 | $1 |
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