From the article "Nine Things The Rich Don't Want You to Know about Taxes," by David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize winning tax investigative reporter:" Since 1980, when President Reagan won election promising prosperity through tax cuts, the average income of the vast majority -- the bottom 90 percent of Americans -- has increased a meager $303, or 1 percent. Put another way, for each dollar people in the vast majority made in 1980, in 2008 their income was up to $1.01.
Those at the top did better. The top 1 percent's average income more than doubled to $1.1 million, according to an analysis of tax data by economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez. The really rich, the top 10th of 1 percent, each enjoyed almost $4 in 2008 for each dollar in 1980.
The top 300,000 Americans now enjoy almost as much income as the bottom 150 million, the data show.
