The gap between the richest and the poorest in America is the largest in the last 25 years, with the top one percent taking home a record 21.2 percent of total annual income, according to a new study by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The study, released on Friday, showed that in 2005, one percent of Americans earned 21.2 percent of total income, a significant increase from 2004.
At that time, the same percentage of the richest accounted for 19 percent of income. The previous record in 25 years of tracking this data was recorded in 2000 when stock growth brought the richest 20.81 percent of the country’s income share.
IRS data showed that the situation for the bottom 50 percent of Americans has worsened, with that segment of the population earning only 12.8 percent of total income in 2005, down from 13.4 percent in 2004. The top 50 percent of Americans earned 87.17 percent of income in 2005, which is also a 25-year record. To enter the top one percent, American taxpayers had to report at least $364,677 in income in 2005, nearly $40,000 more than in 2004. (Hina)
