On CNBC's Power Lunch with Bill Griffeth today, Bill ask 2 members of the House Ways and Means Commitee (They help make the Tax Law), Democrat Allyson Schwartz and Republican Eric Cantor too define " what is a middle class income?" Here's the Link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=767916247&play=1 Republican Eric Cantor said middle class income is $50K for a working family of four! However, to my shocking dismay, Democrat Allyson Schwartz believes middle class income goes up to $250K and more!. Stupid Democrats cant even get the facts right! Here's a classic example of a Democrat in charge of making tax policy, completely out of touch with the facts and reality!!! Bob Pisani then came on and gave some 2006 fiqures that reflect median income of $48,200. 60% of wage earners make between $20K and $60K.
With current inflation rates, 400k per annum is middle class. Yes, I am serious. What's that? Not many people qualify for middle class by that metric? Yes, I know.
It's pretty silly to define "Middle-class" based on income. The difference between being middle-class and being rich is more about how much money you HAVE, not how much money you MAKE. 250k isn't crap. That's a family with both spouses working as tech industry professionals in California, with a 900k mortgage on a 4 bedroom house. I know lots of people in that position and none of them are "rich". On the other-hand someone making less than half that entirely from passive investments and who owns their house outright with no mortgage would be rich in my books.
The difference is that you don't get taxed on how "rich" you are, you get taxed on how much you make. Go to flat tax and then tax consumption. Democrats are just pandering.... and trying to expand the scope of the "Obama tax cuts". They are talking out of both sides of their mouth and now have no credibility left. Anyone who believes this guy is going to be good for the economy is a fool. And a fool and his money are soon parted.
GTC, maybe so. However, for political discussion, setting Income Tax policy in the Federal and State Capitals its all about defining Economic class by INCOME. Does the IRS care were you live, or how much you money you have? HELL NO! They only care about what your Adjusted Gross Income level to set your TAX Payment to the Federal Gov't based on what the Morons in Washington decides what a fair Tax Rate is.
Properly defining middle class income needs to take into account local cost of living, especially housing costs. $50K is middle class family income in Iowa, but $100K is middle class family income in New York, Boston, LA and other East coast and West coast areas. Allyson Schwartz represents a high income suburb of Philadelphia so, even as a Democrat, she knows damn well that $50K is way too low for middle class family income in her district. One of the serious deficiencies of the Federal income system is that it only takes into account income while not properly taking into account local living costs.
You can't live better than average in NYC or SF unless you are making over 200k. 200k is roughly the average of what my buddies from grad school make nowadays. These are just your typical MBA types, about a decade out from school. They have families to support, and just live typical middle class lives. If Obama really wants to tax the rich, he'd tax only those who make in excess of a million per year (there's lots of these types around). Bama just wants to raise taxes period, so he can fund all his big government policies.
Then MOVE! You can live an hour outside of these cities and take public transportation to work, live within your means, and have a perfectly comfortable lifestyle. The problem is that lazy and greedy people want what they can't afford and will vote for any idiot who will promise it to them.