Who are the middle class in America ?
A cornerstone of both Republican and Democratic presidential
campaigns has been a pledge to not raise taxes on the middle class. It is one of the most common themes of
speeches by the candidates. But who are the middle class? The middle third of household incomes? One standard deviation, or the middle
two-thirds? Or two standard deviations,
meaning the middle 95%?
Mitt Romney and Barrack Obama agree on the third
definition. Mitt Romney recently stated
that “middle income is $200,000 to $250,000 and less”, and promised to lower
taxes for this group. He stated further
that the top 5% would pay the same amount as they pay today.
Barrack Obama also
drew his line at this point, promising to extend Bush-era tax cuts to the 98%
of Americans making less than $250,000, and to increase tax rates on those with
higher incomes.
Let’s look at a chart of household income. The 2% of households making more than
$250,000 are vanishingly small on the chart.
It seems to me that both parties have defined the “middle
class” pragmatically, including almost everybody. Both sides are careful to broaden the
definition of the protected middle class up to $250,000, to include those with
enough discretionary income to make political contributions. They are heeding the advice of Quintus
Cicero to promise everything to everybody.
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