Reuters, Forget Taxes, It’s Wages That Plague Americans, by David Cay Johnston:
Here is how much economic progress America has made in the 21st Century: the average taxpayer’s 2009 income was at the same level as 1997. Average 2009 income was $54,283, just $18 more than in 1997 when you adjust for inflation. … And compared to 2007, the last peak year of the economy, average income fell a painful $8,588 or 13.7% in real terms. …
These figures come from the newest tax return data issued by the IRS. You won’t find the numbers above at the IRS website, just raw numbers that I use to calculate changes in incomes, taxes paid and related information.
You also won’t find this data analyzed in most of the mainstream press because our major newspapers and broadcast outlets are too focused on what politicians stay instead of what they do and what the official measures of economic performance tell us.
When you hear politicians saying the cure for what ails our economy is to cut taxes, and that high-income Americans are the job creators who will stop creating jobs if their taxes are not cut more, think about what the data show.
