A tax break for the rich? No way

• Published in: Daily news (New York, N.Y. : 1920)
• Main Author: Mulgrew, Michael
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, N.Y Tribune Publishing Company, LLC 26.10.2011
• Subjects: Paulson, John

What had been good fortune for the top earners became a bonanza at the expense of a middle class with declining living standards. Since 1980, the richest 1% in the United States has more than doubled its share of national income to 23%. In New York State that percentage is even higher, 35%; and the richest make New York City, with their 44% share of income, the national poster child for income inequality. Huge fortunes have been built from deregulation and Wall Street's new ability to make gigantic bets - generally with other people's money - in the stock and currency markets. Yet because the elements of the financial system are so interdependent, the government has had to intervene to prevent a complete meltdown of the economy when those bets went wrong. Of course, not everyone got bailed out. CEOs who made catastrophic mistakes walked away with tens of millions in golden parachutes, while homeowners in Brooklyn and the Bronx struggled to hold on to their homes. According to a New York State controller's report in 2010, the average annual paycheck in the securities industry in New York City was more than $350,000 - and that average includes the wages of secretaries and the guys running the copy machines. The good news keeps coming for the city's richest families, whose incomes average $2.3 million a year and who are getting an average break of $124,000 this year on their federal taxes, thanks to the Bush tax cuts. The current income tax surcharge is a nominal hike on families that make $300,000 or more - with the vast majority of receipts coming from those who make more than $1 million.