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The Super Rich

Jack Lessenberry interviews Teresa Tritch, author of a recent article in the New York Times called "The Rise of the Super-Rich". Tritch found that the real average income for the top 1% of households (those making more than $315,000) grew by nearly 17% in 2004. For the remaining 99%, the average gain was less than 3%. How does this relate to Michigan? One way is the recent signing of a bill that would cut programs like Medicaid and food stamps by nearly $100 billion over the next decade. Who will pay for those programs? States like Michigan who will be forced to choose between education and food and health care. Just in case you're not inclined to read Tritch's article, here's an excerpt:

In 2006, the average tax cut for households with incomes of more than $1 million - the top two-tenths of 1 percent - is $112,000 which works out to a boost of 5.7 percent in after tax income. That's considerably higher than the 5 percent boost garnered by the top 1 percent. It's far greater than the 2.5 percent increase of the middle fifth of households, and fully 19 times greater than the 0.3 percent gain of the poorest fifth of households.

The disparities are driven by tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the most affluent. In 2006, for instance, a tax cut took effect that allows high income households - those with incomes above $200,000 - to take bigger write offs for their children and other expenses, like mortgage interest on a second home. And increasingly, tax cuts are aimed at allowing America's wealthiest families to amass dynastic wealth - estates to transfer from one generation to the next virtually untouched by taxes.

Read Interview: Teresa Tritch from Michigan Radio
Read The Rise of the Super-Rich by Teresa Tritch

Posted/updated Jul 27, 2006
by Andrew McFarlane (Absolute Michigan)