Income inequality isn't going away,
but you probably already know that.
By one measure, the income gap
between "the 1%" and the rest of Americans got wider last year—it
reached the widest split in records going back to 1928.
The Associated Press reports that
the top 1% of folks who reported income last year got almost 20% of all income
(that is, wages, pensions, dividends and capital gains).
The top 10% of earners raked in
almost half of all that income.
Since June 2009—the bottom of the
financial meltdown, more than four years ago—95% of all reported income GAINS
went to the top 1 per cent.
Presumptively, most of those really high-earning folks did it legally. Let's say, sincerely, good for them….we can just
forget for the moment about those obscene CEO salaries….
So, what's the big deal?
The big deal is that these folks
aren't spending all those gains the way the other 99% would spend the money if they
had it, and the national economy lags accordingly.
The big deal is that too much of this
income is not actually being taxed "at the highest tax rate," what with
preferential low-ball tax rates for capital gains and tax loopholes that the rich
can use to their advantage, and stuff like that…
The big deal is that the richest folks,
overall, give a smaller percentage of their
income to charity than the poorest folks do.
The big deal is that the top 1% aren't paying a rightful portion of their income in federal taxes.
The big deal is that the top 1% aren't paying a rightful portion of their income in federal taxes.
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