The Top 1% . . . of What?

Wall Street Journal article looks at the PR campaign against the “top 1%”.

Two points to note: 1) Using tax return as a measure of income misses a lot of personal income (and overstates the amount earned by the top one percent) and 2) The largest increase in the share of the top 1% occured immediately after the top marginal tax rate was lowered in 1986 – owing not to a growth in income, but a growth in reported income . In other words, lower tax rates means less avoidance of taxes, and more income being taxed.