Think back to 2011 when Occupy Wall Street identified New York City’s big banks, hedge funds and private equity firms as the 1%. However, a new study of state-level tax data from the Internal Revenue Service shows the protesters’ focus may be misplaced.
In fact, over the last 35 years, the Economic Policy Institute study found that gap between the wealthiest 1% and everyone else has widened in all 50 states.
According to the report written by Estelle Sommeiller, a socio economist at the Institute for Research in Economic and Social Sciences in France, and Mark Price, a labor economist at the Pennsylvania-based Keystone Research Center, “Equality is not just a story of those in the financial sector in the greater New York City metropolitan area reaping outsized rewards from speculation in financial markets.”
The one-percenters in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia make approximately 23%, 17% and 16%, respectively, of all the income in that state. In my home state of Nebraska, the one-percenters make 16.5% of all the income in the Cornhusker state.
So, what do you have to earn in your state to be in the top 1%? If you live in the District of Columbia, Maryland or Virginia, you would be a one-percenter if you made more than $555,000, $419,000 or $401,000. In Nebraska you would be a one-percenter if you made more than $355,000.
Take a look at the map below for a graphical image of the income thresholds in each state to be considered a one-percenter or click on this link:
