Top 1%

Updated 3/11/16

You need to earn an income of about $400,000 a year to be in the top 1%.

The wealthiest 1% will soon own more than rest of us combined.

The gulf between the 1% and everybody else was at the widest level in history in 2012.

In 2011, the average top tax rate was 20.3%.  That was down from 22.7% in 1979.  And way down from 1944, when it was at 94%.  

The richest 1% of the world’s population owns about 50% of its total wealth.

Those making more than $1 million per year benefit the most from the Bush tax cuts.  The cuts are likely to continue be a major driver of federal budget deficits 20 years after they were first passed.

Hillary Clinton's tax plan would raise taxes on the 1% by about $78,000 per person, but would keep taxes for the rest of us at about the same as it is now.

In the past 30 years, the top 1% have seen their income increase by 275%.  Meanwhile, the income of the top 20% grew by 65%, the middle income increased by 40%, and the poor increased by 18%.

In 2007, the top 1% made over 21% of all the income earned in the United States — more than the entire bottom 50%.

In 2007, the top 1% owned 34.6% of all privately held wealth, the next 19% owned 50.5%, and the bottom 80% only owned 15%.

And 68% of millionaires think they should pay higher taxes!