What class are you?

This week Mitt Romney offhandedly called himself part of the "middle class."
Mitt's net worth is estimated at $200 million. It seems clear that it
was a pretty innocuous attempt at solidarity by a super-rich guy with
"us" not-so-rich.

I could sympathize--at least a bit. For a long time, I didn't know what
class I was in, either. I never knew how much money our family had. I
mean, I knew we didn't "come from" wealth. We didn't summer in the
Hamptons. My parents both worked when I was growing up, as teachers--one
a professor, the other a public high school teacher. We lived in
comfortable neighborhoods and went to public schools. We were pretty
frugal in our family spending--not ostentatious. But then, we also never
had to tighten our belts, there was always food in the fridge, gas in
the car(s), and nice toys for birthdays and Christmas. So... what class
were we?

I always assumed we were "upper middle class" with middle class
sensibilities. In fact, we probably started that way. But by the time I
graduated from high school... we were probably rich. Richer than most
everybody else (which is the basic definition of "rich"). My dad's
salary was published on the front page of the Columbus Dispatch in a
feature story on professors' salaries at Ohio State--that was the first
time I ever found out (along with the rest of Central Ohio) how much
money he made.

I had to scour the internet for a while to find the data on American incomes for 2011. But here it is. In summary, income distribution in America looks like this:

• You are poor (lowest 20%) if you earn:  less than $17,000
• You are lower middle class (20-40%) if you earn:  $17,000 - $32,000
• You are middle class (40-60%) if you earn:  $33,000 - $57,000
• You are upper middle class (60-80%) if you earn:  $58,000 - $97,000
• You are rich (above 80%) if you earn:  more than $98,000
• You are stinkin' rich (top 1%) if you earn:  more than $500,000

If this is confusing, read it this way: 20% of our population makes less
than $17,000 a year and 20% makes more than $98,000.  Median income
(the point at which half of Americans make more and half make less) is
about $43,000.

Where am I? I am one of the many in my generation who will not out-earn
their parents. But don't cry. My Presbyterian pastor's salary makes me
upper-middle class.

The crazy piece about these statistics for me is that 40% of Americans
live on LESS than $32,000 per year. That is just no money at all. No
luxuries, no peace of mind, no security, and no opportunity to save. Do
you know enough folks in this 40%? Do you know what living on that
income is like? If you don't, it would be a good thing in the coming
months for you to politely find out.

Understanding real income breakdown is essential to understanding the
debate on taxes in America. Dollars are so scarce among the poor and
lower-middle classes, even in the middle class. If we were to switch
from our current system of progressive income taxes (at which high
earners are taxed at high rates) to a system of consumption-based taxes,
it punishes lower earners. It would be class warfare against the poor. Or chemical warfare: insidious and cruel, with effects spanning generations.

But then... it's hard to understand what the effects of an economic
policy are when you have no idea what class you're in--or what class in
America really means.

Originally posted at A Minister's Life.