Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Income inequality getting worse….


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.







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