The Facts on Income Growth

The new tax data shows the following:  1) Average income rose 27 percent (in real terms) from 1979 to 2004.  Only those in the top 5 percent had significant gains, however.  One third of the entire national increase in reported income went to the top 1 percent; one-sixth of the total increase went to the top one-tenth of one percent.  2) The data from 200 to 2004 shows a different trend, however.  The bottom fifth has an average income gain of 2.4 percent while those in the top one-tenth of one percent reported average income losses of almost 17 percent.