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manateefourmation t1_j6nshnn wrote

Reply to comment by mmmmyeahhlumberg in Mayor Adams plows ahead with plan to privatize health benefits for 250,000 NYC municipal retirees by mowotlarx

Everyone I know recognizes that the bottom 50% don’t pay federal income tax - not exactly a secret. But to really complete the story you have to look at why the bottom 50% don’t pay and that due to the massive growth of income inequality of this country in the last 50 years, the destruction of good paying middle class jobs, the move to the giga economy (where poorly paid workers have to pay high self employment taxes (both ends of SS and Medicare taxes).

This is a really complicated story in this country and merely stating “50% don’t pay income tax is a Republican talking point and not understanding the “full picture.”

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mmmmyeahhlumberg t1_j6nuw30 wrote

due to the massive growth of income inequality of this country in the last 50 years

The median family income in the U.S. has gone from 30k to 70k in the last 30 years...and America is top five in the world in median income. It looks like the average American is doing ok despite the "massive growth of income inequality".

Some people would rather have everyone doing poorly if it means the wealthy are doing poorly rather than have everyone doing better if it means the wealthy are also doing better. LOL.

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manateefourmation t1_j6nvodx wrote

Here is a great analysis by Pew (which I think we can agree doesn’t bias left or right) on the decline of the middle class in America over the past 50 years.

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/trust/archive/fall-2022/how-the-american-middle-class-has-changed-in-the-past-five-decades

*Edit: just to say this is the second time you’ve thrown out a simplistic number without trying to understand the “why.” For example what you cite as “family income”’is actually “household” income and more and more households have moved to three wage earners. You seem to like talking points by laughing at those less fortunate.

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mmmmyeahhlumberg t1_j6nxmkd wrote

So 7% of the middle class from 50 years ago moved up to the upper class and 4% of the middle class from 50 years ago moved to the lower class. So more of the middle class from 50 years ago moved up to the upper class than moved down to the lower class. For some reason I don't have a big issue when more of the middle class is moving up than down.

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manateefourmation t1_j6o3bjo wrote

That stat is nowhere in the Pew analysis. For those following this thread, the Pew study shows three things:

  1. “The share of adults who live in middle-class households fell from 61% in 1971 to 50% in 2021, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data.”
  2. “The rise in “household” income is more explained by the number of wage earners in the household.
  3. college grads make more than their high school equivalents- at a time when college enrollment is dropping.

But let’s say your stat has some truth, “Families that have risen above the middle class may still be doing worse than they were in 2000 because the inflation-adjusted median income has declined in all but four states — North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming.”

I’m the top percent of this country but have empathy for the destruction of high paying middle income jobs here / perhaps some empathy on your part and trying to look at the core reasons and fix them might be helpful instead of bemoaning the struggling half who “don’t pay federal income taxes.”

Here is a wonderful stat for you. The income disparity in this country as surpassed that of the disparity right before the French Revolution.

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