The richest 1 percent of Americans have been getting much richer over the past three decades while the middle class and the poor have seen their after-tax household income only crawl in comparison, according to a government study.
After tax income for the top 1 percent of U.S. households almost tripled, 275 percent, 1979-2007, the Congressional Budget Office found. For people in the middle of the scale of the economy, after growing income tax just 40 percent. The people below have increased 18 percent.
"The distribution of income tax in the United States after substantially more unequal in 2007 than in 1979," CBO Director Doug Elmendorf said in a blog post. "Sharing the revenue yield for higher-income households are increasing, while the share of the produce for household refuse."
The top 1 percent make $ 165,000 or more in 1979; that jumped to $ 347,000 in 2007, the study said. Revenue for the top five starts at $ 51,289 in 1979 and rose to $ 70,578 in 2007. On the other end of the spectrum, people in the 20th percentile lines go from $ 12,823 in 1979 to $ 14,851 in 2007.
The report, based on IRS data and the Census Bureau, came as Wall Street protest movement occupies the bailouts of companies and the gap between rich and poor. Protesters calling themselves the "99 percent."