[parsifal]

I'm not getting the numbers I need from your post. For exapmple, the top 1% of taxpayers earn about 20% of the income in the country. How much of the nations income (percentage wise) did the top 1% earn in 1975. If, in 1975, the top 1% earned 10% of the nation's income, then your post is paractically meaningless. Their income doubled and their taxes doubled. All you will have suceeded in proving is that the rich are getting richer faster. Can you help me figure out whether this happened or not. parsy.

[AzJohn]

...the top 1% of taxpayers earn about 20% of the income in the country. How much of the nations income (percentage wise) did the top 1% earn in 1975.

If you really want to crunch some numbers on this, you could check the U.S. Census Bureau web site. They have published tons of information on this. Here is a table of household income distribution over time.

They show the top 5% of households going from reporting 14.9% of income in 1975 to 20.3% in 1999. However, it's possible that as much as half of that increase could be due to changes in measurement methods that took place around 1993.

My own take on this is that wealthy households are indeed paying a significantly higher share of federal income taxes than they used to. I expect the wealthy will survive. Still, it's useful to keep in mind when you hear the next Democratic campaign speech.