“French economists Piketty & Saez used IRS statistics on individual tax returns to get their numbers, using just wage, salary and tip income. They completely ignored the success of the Reagan years and all the business tax returns that were filed by entrepreneurs. Business income was NOT counted, and moreover, investment income was not counted, nor was Social Security, Medicare and transfer payments such as Foods Stamps, Welfare, or child support, disability, etc. Essentially, the 70% tax bracket at $105,000 in 1980 put an artificial cap on salaries, and once it was ended, salaries took off for athletes, entertainers, CEOs and small business owners........more money was created, and they did not get the money by stealing from or by exploiting others.
401K plan and mutual fund or investment income was not counted, which was a big gain by the middle class after Reagan, then with the Internet. In the 1970s, you needed $10,000 and to pay a stockbroker to invest. That changed.
Biggest ommission other than not counting business income tax returns in their communist studies of income inequality, was counting people who retired as becoming poor. Since retired people received wage, salary or tip income, they were counted as the “shrinking middle class “ in these French professor studies touted by the Left, even though many seniors owned their own homes and were living well. It’s no different when liberals talk about the wage gap between males and females as if the NBA and WNBA are the same thing, using “per capita income” of males and females that does not take into consideration how many hours worked or if somebody was a plumber or an unwed mother, a receptionist or heavy equipment operator, a public defender or a corporate lawyer, a social worker or a hedge fund manager.”
sorry. retired people received no wage, salary or tip income, so were considered the shrinking middle class by the French economists.
“Essentially, the 70% tax bracket at $105,000 in 1980 put an artificial cap on salaries, and once it was ended, salaries took off for athletes, entertainers, CEOs and small business owners........more money was created, and they did not get the money by stealing from or by exploiting others.”
I have the memory of my father saying in 1979 that he paid a 50% rate on his income.
Where are you getting that quote? I don’t see it in the article at the site. I see a reference to the economists, but not the rest of those words.