How much is “rich?”
How much is “rich?”
(Consider the American Heritage Dictionary’s definitions of rich - “possessing great material wealth” or “having great worth or value.”)
If you made $30,000 a year, would you be rich? By the world’s standards you would certainly possess great material wealth.
What if you made $45,800, more than what HALF the families in the state made in 2004? Or $54,400, which is more than what half the families of four made in Alabama in 2004? Would that make you rich?
How about $58,000? By Alabama standards, that puts you ahead of the overwhelming majority of folks. (In 2000, 80% of tax filers in Alabama made less than $58,000. Source: The Alabama Tax and Budget Handbook , p. 18. Warning: Large PDF file and a darn good read.)
What if your family made over $100,000? That is to say, your family made more than 87% of the families in the state. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2004 American Community Survey) Roughly, 7 in 8 Alabama families would increase their income if they switched with you. Is that rich?
No.
According to Representative Mike Hubbard (R - Auburn), that’s not rich, that’s “middle income.”
Families that make more than $100,000 wouldn’t get anything under the new [Knight-Lindsey] plan, something that did not sit well with House Minority Leader Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn.
“Someone who makes over $100,000, a family of four, I wouldn’t consider them rich,” he said, praising last week’s [Riley-Knight] compromise for giving “a tax break to middle income working families.”
OK.
If you hang out on a street with luxury cars long enough, do you begin to think that is the norm? Does this comment and the one by Mac Gipson suggest that legislators have a disconnect with how people live in the state?
