[extropy-chat] Tax Burden Gap

[Damien Broderick]

At 11:42 AM 8/17/2004 -0500, Kevin wrote:

>It's always been my impression that the wealthiest Americans represent such
>a small portion of the nation that the middle class has always carried the
>burden.

Look at some data.

http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2003/03may/may03interviewswolff.html

< In the United States, the richest 1 percent of households owns 38 percent 
of all wealth. >


<MM: What portion of the wealth is owned by the upper groups?

Wolff: The top 5 percent own more than half of all wealth.

In 1998, they owned 59 percent of all wealth. Or to put it another way, the 
top 5 percent had more wealth than the remaining 95 percent of the 
population, collectively.

The top 20 percent owns over 80 percent of all wealth. In 1998, it owned 83 
percent of all wealth.

This is a very concentrated distribution. >

Whether this is a good or bad thing is another matter.

Damien Broderick