Nonpartisan budget office: Republicans’ megabill will make the rich richer, poor poorer
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/nonpartisan-budget-office-republicans-megabill-will-make-rich-richer-p-rcna224520
by msnbc
Nonpartisan budget office: Republicans’ megabill will make the rich richer, poor poorer
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/nonpartisan-budget-office-republicans-megabill-will-make-rich-richer-p-rcna224520
by msnbc
2 comments
**From Steve Benen, producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show”:**
The day after Christmas 2024, as Donald Trump and his team prepared to return to the White House, The Washington Post published a memorable report on low-income voters who’d supported the Republican ticket a month earlier. The article specifically referenced a middle-aged Pennsylvania woman who had struggled to make ends meet despite receiving food stamps and Social Security benefits, who explained why she voted to put Trump back in power.
The then-president-elect, she told the Post, “is more attuned to the needs of everyone instead of just the rich.” The woman added, “I think he knows it’s the poor people that got him elected, so I think Trump is going to do more to help us.”
While it’s true that the CBO found that middle-income households are poised to get a little more from the Republican tax breaks, it’s also true that (a) the increases would amount to less than 1% of their annual income, which isn’t enough to keep up with inflation; and (b) the largest beneficiaries of the Republicans’ law are the top 10% of earners.
Read more: [https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/nonpartisan-budget-office-republicans-megabill-will-make-rich-richer-p-rcna224520](https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/nonpartisan-budget-office-republicans-megabill-will-make-rich-richer-p-rcna224520)
Got curious about the over/under on rich vs poor (i.e. what levels those mean). The article says:
>The CBO estimates that the 10% of poorest Americans will lose roughly $1,200 a year as they experience restrictions on government programs like Medicaid and food assistance, while the richest 10% of Americans will see their income increase by $13,600 from tax cuts.
Asked AI Studio Google Gemini (with “Grounding With Google Search” on):
>Richest 10% of americans starts at what salary and what net worth?
And this is what it came back with:
>The Financial Tiers: Defining the Richest 10% of Americans
Determining the exact starting line for the wealthiest 10% of Americans involves looking at both income and net worth, with recent data providing a clearer picture of these financial thresholds.
>To be among the top 10% of income earners in the United States, an individual would need to make nearly $149,000 annually, according to 2024 data from the IRS and Social Security Administration.[1] Another source from 2021 suggests an average income of over $160,000 for this group.[2]
>However, income only tells part of the story. A more comprehensive measure of wealth is net worth, which is the value of a person’s assets minus their liabilities. Here, the figures are significantly higher. To enter the top 10% of wealthiest American households, you would need a net worth of at least $970,900.[3][4] Other recent data from late 2022 and 2023 places this threshold even higher, at approximately $1.92 million to $1.94 million.[5][6] Some analyses offer a range, suggesting the top 10% requires a net worth between $970,900 and $1.9 million.[7]
Comments are closed.