Income Inequality: Difference between revisions
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[https://www.pgpf.org/article/5-facts-about-rising-income-inequality-in-the-united-states/ by PETERSON FOUNDATION] | [https://www.pgpf.org/article/5-facts-about-rising-income-inequality-in-the-united-states/ by PETERSON FOUNDATION] | ||
Over the past four decades, average household income grew by 95 percent after adjusting for inflation; however, that growth largely stems from earners in the top part of the income-distribution. Average income in the highest quintile was 165 percent higher in 2021 than it was in 1981 — over four times the growth of average income in the lowest quintile (38 percent over the period). Meanwhile, the median household income grew by just 33 percent. Those statistics do not account for the effect of taxes or transfer programs such as Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; such programs provide cash payments or other forms of assistance to people with relatively low income or few assets. | Over the past four decades, average household income grew by 95 percent after adjusting for inflation; however, that growth largely stems from earners in the top part of the income-distribution. Average income in the highest quintile was 165 percent higher in 2021 than it was in 1981 — over four times the growth of average income in the lowest quintile (38 percent over the period). Meanwhile, the median household income grew by just 33 percent. Those statistics do not account for the effect of taxes or transfer programs such as Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; such programs provide cash payments or other forms of assistance to people with relatively low income or few assets. | ||
=====Unfair State Tax Codes Also Exacerbate Racial Inequity===== | |||
[https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/03/22/unfair-state-tax-codes-also-exacerbate-racial-inequity by Misha Hill 22/3/19 Common Dreams] | |||
Nationwide, the lowest-income households contribute, on average, 11 percent of their income in state and local taxes while the top 1 percent of households contribute just 7 percent of their income--that's a tax rate that is 50 percent higher for families working hard to make ends meet than for the wealthiest 1 percent. The tax systems of 45 states widen the income gap between their most affluent residents and lower- and middle-income families. State and local tax systems also worsen existing racial disparities. | |||
