This is unmitigated crap. It was crap when the left first made the claim and it is still crap today. All anyone has to do - who was over 12 in 1973 - is look around them to know that we are a lot better off today than we were back in '73.
True, but much of it is based on fake money. Without the trillion dollar deficits that allow the govt to pay entitlements, America would look much poorer.
New report debunks narrative on income inequality
http://www.laffercenter.com/2012/07/lefts-dubious-history-income-inequality/
The Latest News on Tax Fairness-top 20%’s share up, everyone else’s share down over last 30 years
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444873204577537250318931044.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
CBO: By the way, the rich already pay more than a fair share in taxes
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2905255/posts
If fairness in paying taxes means the amount you pay is based on the amount you make, then the only group in America paying at least a “fair share” is the top 20%—people who make more than $74,000. For everyone else, the tax code is a bargain.
There’s also another way of looking at fairness, and that’s the tax burden. Here, consider the top 20% of income earners (over $74,000). They make 50% of the nation’s income but pay nearly 70% of all federal taxes.
The remaining 30% of the tax burden is borne by 80% of the taxpayers, those who make less than $74,000. In short, this group’s share of taxes paid, 30%, is lower than the share of income they earn, 50%.
Yet President Obama says that “for some time now, when compared to the middle class,” the wealthy “haven’t been asked to do their fair share.”
He’s right that the system isn’t fair, but not because the top 1% pay too little. It is because they pay too much.