dpa German Press Agency Published:
Thursday March 29, 2007
New York- The income gap between rich and poor in the
United States has increased significantly, The New York Times online
edition reported Thursday.
According to the report, new analyses of 2005 tax data shows that
the top 300,000 Americans collectively enjoyed almost as much income
as the bottom 150 million Americans.
Per person, the top group received 440 times as much as the
average person in the bottom half earned, nearly doubling the gap
from 1980.
The report cites Internal Revenue Service data analyzed by
economist Professor Emmanuel Saez of the University of California,
Berkeley, and Professor Thomas Piketty of the Paris School of
Economics.
If the economy is growing but only a few are enjoying the
benefits, it goes to our sense of fairness," the report quoted
Professor Saez as saying. "It can have important political
consequences," the professor said.
While total reported income in the US increased almost 9 per cent
in 2005, the most recent year for which such data is available,
average incomes for those in the bottom 90 per cent dipped slightly
compared with the year before, dropping 172 dollars, or 0.6 per cent.
According to the report, the gains went largely to the top 1 per
cent, whose incomes rose to an average of more than 1.1 million
dollars each, an increase of more than 139,000 dollars, or about 14
per cent.
The top 10 percent, roughly those earning more than 100,000
dollars, also reached a level of income share not seen since 1928,
according to the report.
Last year, according to data from other sources, incomes for
average Americans increased for the first time in several years, the
report said.
But because those at the top relied heavily on the stock
market and business profits for their income, both of which were
strong last year, it was likely that the disparities in 2005 were the
same or larger now, The New York Times quoted Professor Saez as
saying.
Saez noted that the analysis was based on preliminary data and
that the highest-income Americans were more likely than others to
file their returns late, so his data might understate the growth in
inequality.
According to the report, the Bush administration has argued that
its tax policies, despite cuts that benefited those at the top more
than others, had not added to the widening gap but "made the tax code
more progressive, not less."
