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Rich getting richer faster
New studies spotlight a growing gap between top and bottom. The divide is widest in Arizona, narrowest in Wyoming.
By MSN Money Staff
Two new studies find the rich are getting richer at a faster pace.
A study released in late January, from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute, found that the gap between the highest- and lowest-income families is significantly wider than it was 25 years ago.
And an analysis of income-tax data by Congressional Budget Office found that the top 1% of households own nearly twice as much of the nations corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.
The studies come among a growing push to increase the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour for the first time in nine years. Public advocacy groups have successfully lobbied for living wage reforms in 18 states and a number of cities, raising the minimum wage in some places as high as $12 an hour.
An employee working full-time at the federal minimum wage makes $10,712 a year. About 7% of the workforce earns a minimum wage.
Growing income inequality harms this nation in a number of ways, stated Jared Bernstein, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and co-author of the income report. When income growth is concentrated at the top of the income scale, the people at the bottom have a much harder time lifting themselves out of poverty and giving their children a decent start in life.
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The five states with the largest income gap between the top and bottom fifths of families are New York, Texas, Tennessee, Arizona and Florida. Generally, income gaps are larger in the Southeast and Southwest and smaller in the Midwest, Great Plains and Mountain states. (To see the state-by-state list, ranked, click here.)
Income inequality declined somewhat, the report found, following the bursting of the stock and high-tech bubbles in 2000, which were costly to the highest-income families. But incomes at the top have rebounded, while the negative effects of the recent recession on low and moderate-income families have lasted longer than usual.
In 38 states where the incomes of the bottom fifth of families grew more slowly than those at the top, incomes at the top rose by an average of $45,800 (62%), while the incomes of the poorest grew by $3,000 (21%).
The only state in which incomes of the poor grew faster than those of the rich was Alaska.
The study is based on Census income data that have been adjusted to account for inflation, the impact of federal taxes and the cash value of food stamps, subsidized school lunches and housing vouchers. Income from capital gains is also included. The study compares combined data from 2001-2003 with data from the early 1980s and early 1990s, time periods chosen because they stand as comparable low points of their respective business cycles.
Possible steps to stem the disparity, the report offers, include raising state minimum wages, strengthening supports for low-income working families and reforming the unemployment insurance system. In addition, states can pursue tax policies that partially offset the growing inequality of pre-tax incomes.
Corporate wealth concentrates further
The richest 1% of households -- those with incomes above $237,000 for 2003, the latest year analyzed -- owned 57.5% of all income from capital gains, dividends, interest and rents in 2003, the CBO analysis found. That was up from 53.4% the year before and 38.7% in 1991.
Long-term capital gains were taxed at 28% until 1997, and at 20% until 2003, when rates were cut to 15%. The top rate on stock dividends was cut to 15% from 35% that year.
The poorest fifth of Americans owned 0.6% of corporate wealth in 2003, down from 1.4 percent in 1991.
The CBO analysis excludes the stock held in retirement accounts such as 401(k)s and IRAs, which isnt subject to taxation and was thus unaffected by the tax cuts.
Although these tax cuts are slated to expire in 2008, Congress is already debating whether to extend them through 2010. The Bush administration has been calling for the cuts to be extended or made permanent.
An analysis by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center found that an extension of the tax cuts would save households with incomes under $50,000 about $11 in 2009. Those with incomes above $1 million would save about $32,000.
| The growing gap in family incomes | | Rank | State | Top 5% | Bottom 20% | Ratio | | 14 | Alabama | $172,029 | $14,765 | 11.7 | | 45 | Alaska | $180,148 | $20,533 | 8.8 | | 1 | Arizona | $223,081 | $15,719 | 14.2 | | 13 | Arkansas | $163,908 | $13,888 | 11.8 | | 8 | California | $207,363 | $16,773 | 12.4 | | 19 | Colorado | $215,109 | $18,983 | 11.3 | | 24 | Connecticut | $231,928 | $21,003 | 11.0 | | 41 | Delaware | $188,435 | $20,225 | 9.3 | | 7 | Florida | $199,892 | $15,396 | 13.0 | | 36 | Georgia | $158,382 | $16,345 | 9.7 | | 26 | Hawaii | $208,340 | $19,294 | 10.8 | | 43 | Idaho | $162,923 | $17,847 | 9.1 | | 20 | Illinois | $203,876 | $18,032 | 11.3 | | 30 | Indiana | $195,217 | $18,590 | 10.5 | | 48 | Iowa | $155,722 | $18,503 | 8.4 | | 17 | Kansas | $209,125 | $18,284 | 11.4 | | 5 | Kentucky | $193,766 | $14,814 | 13.1 | | 16 | Louisiana | $153,334 | $13,347 | 11.5 | | 31 | Maine | $164,232 | $15,975 | 10.3 | | 12 | Maryland | $253,923 | $21,480 | 11.8 | | 11 | Massachusetts | $233,108 | $19,690 | 11.8 | | 21 | Michigan | $200,814 | $17,927 | 11.2 | | 33 | Minnesota | $223,411 | $22,608 | 9.9 | | 25 | Mississippi | $145,342 | $13,456 | 10.8 | | 38 | Missouri | $176,320 | $18,482 | 9.5 | | 42 | Montana | $135,164 | $14,788 | 9.1 | | 49 | Nebraska | $160,862 | $19,242 | 8.4 | | 39 | Nevada | $180,521 | $19,143 | 9.4 | | 35 | New Hampshire | $226,178 | $23,128 | 9.8 | | 4 | New Jersey | $268,889 | $20,391 | 13.2 | | 18 | New Mexico | $157,011 | $13,748 | 11.3 | | 3 | New York | $216,061 | $16,076 | 13.4 | | 9 | North Carolina | $183,253 | $14,884 | 12.3 | | 44 | North Dakota | $147,519 | $16,805 | 8.8 | | 27 | Ohio | $195,175 | $18,216 | 10.7 | | 37 | Oklahoma | $150,011 | $15,483 | 9.7 | | 32 | Oregon | $175,976 | $17,367 | 10.1 | | 10 | Pennsylvania | $223,152 | $18,548 | 12.0 | | 28 | Rhode Island | $200,859 | $18,916 | 10.6 | | 29 | South Carolina | $157,634 | $14,957 | 10.5 | | 47 | South Dakota | $155,427 | $18,353 | 8.5 | | 6 | Tennessee | $187,026 | $14,303 | 13.1 | | 2 | Texas | $203,174 | $14,724 | 13.8 | | 34 | Utah | $192,142 | $19,594 | 9.8 | | 40 | Vermont | $176,291 | $18,846 | 9.4 | | 23 | Virginia | $200,191 | $18,110 | 11.1 | | 15 | Washington | $195,170 | $16,911 | 11.5 | | 22 | West Virginia | $147,434 | $13,208 | 11.2 | | 46 | Wisconsin | $174,919 | $20,197 | 8.7 | | 50 | Wyoming | $145,587 | $18,171 | 8.0 |
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