America's richest 1#x25 see income share rise

By Jesse Drucker The Wall Street Journal Published: Thursday, July 24, 2008 12:11 a.m. MDT In a new sign of increasing inequality in the United States, the richest 1 percent of Americans in 2006 garnered the highest share of the nation's adjusted gross income for two decades, and possibly the highest since 1929, according to Internal Revenue Service data. Meanwhile, the average tax rate of the wealthiest 1 percent fell to its lowest level in at least 18 years. The group's share of the tax burden has risen, though not as quickly as its share of income. The figures are from the IRS's income-statistics division and were posted on the agency's Web site last week. The 2006 data are the most recent available. The figures about the relative income and tax rates of the wealthiest Americans come as the presumptive presidential... [read full story]