My dear Tom! I may call you that, mayn’t I?
My sincere thanks to you and your wife for your hard work over the years, which surely benefited others. I remember that you’ve served in the military, among other things. Although I don’t want to pry, I’m curious about what you mean by the top 10%. Income or net worth?
I’ll assume you mean net worth.
Because of the widening gap between the ultra-rich (those UHNW folks) and the rest of us, being in the top 10% of net worth in America just means being middle class. Check out today’s article in Fox Business (maybe a publication you trust?), “Wealth Inequality in US Reached Highest Level in 50 Years.”
Bernie Sanders, according to this article, has “vowed to implement new tax brackets on the ultra-rich, from a 1 percent tax imposed on married couples with $32 million to an 8 percent tax on those with more than $10 billion.
And Elizabeth Warren, according to this article, “has likewise hinged her presidential bid on a wealth tax, which she first introduced in January. Under her plan, individuals with $50 million would pay a 2 percent tax. That would increase to 3 percent for individuals with more than $1 billion.”
So I don’t think Elizabeth Warren, or even Bernie Sanders, are coming for your home, your vacation home, your nest egg, or your bank accounts. Or mine. Forget about being in the top 10%. You’d have to be not just in the top 1% for that — you’d have to be closing in on the top .01%.
Check out this chart from DQYDJ, a finance and investment research company.
My husband and I are both first generation college grads. We’re not quite at that top 10%, but not far from it because for one thing, we’re both over 60, and net worth has, historically, increased with age. Also, probably like you and your wife, we’ve benefited from avoiding debt, from rising real estate prices, and, of course, from working since we were teenagers.
You and your wife have more in common with me and my husband than any of us do with that top 1% — or the top 0.10 %. Proposals that seek to “tax the rich” aren’t targeting people like you and me.
Those 20,000+ UHNW people (a mere 0.008 % of the 253,768,092 adults in America) whose net worth exceeds $100 million might have something to worry about, though. Unless, of course, they become expats or send their money to Switzerland or wherever rich people hide their money today.
Warmest wishes,
Michele
