Drawing the 1040 Line Between the Truly Wealthy and the Regular Middle Class

[Anonymous]

I notice that DCUM often debates who is wealthy or not, middle class or upper middle class or upper class and so on. I am curious to know, when you state your HHI, which line from the 1040 are you reporting? Are you sharing your line 1 wages, salary and tips? Are you stating line 9 total income? Line 11 adjusted gross income? Or line 15 taxable income?

It seems to me that the truly wealthy will see a bid bump/difference between wages and total income due to the “capital gains/loss” from line 7 and the “other income” flowing in on line 8. The regular middle class will see no substantive difference between line 1 and line 9 because the bulk of their income derives from working a job. The truly wealthy will see a large increase due to income from business activities, trusts, investments, and other passive income sources.

So where do you draw your line, DCUM? I will go first. On salary alone we would be considered DCUM middle class with $200k, but our total income places us at $500k which is widely considered DCUM upper middle class. I wonder if the tax code helps to reveal why so many of us are confused about our tax status?

[Anonymous]

I think your premise is off - $200k is not middle class, DCUM or elsewhere. It’s upper middle, given the average and median HHI in the DMV. The reason you can’t see that isn’t the tax code, it’s that your daily life surrounds you with other people like you and you measure yourself against them, not the janitors, bus drivers, admin assistants, nurses aids, and construction workers who make up the majority of our population.

[Anonymous]

For many people (myself included) the wages line reflects substantially all of their income so that's what I post. To the extent you have unique circumstances such that you have substantial 1099 or other income it would be disingenuous to only claim the W-2 income.

[Anonymous]

I would always state Line 9, because that's the amount of money we actually have to spend/save. In your situation, you've got $500K to spend or save, not $200K, so that's what's relevant for most discussions. Someone might have a situation that makes Line 15 more applicable as well, I suppose.

I also disagree with the general premise that $200K is middle class; we're in the $170K range and I don't really think we're middle class even in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think your premise is off - $200k is not middle class, DCUM or elsewhere. It’s upper middle, given the average and median HHI in the DMV. The reason you can’t see that isn’t the tax code, it’s that your daily life surrounds you with other people like you and you measure yourself against them, not the janitors, bus drivers, admin assistants, nurses aids, and construction workers who make up the majority of our population.

Yep. DCUM is blind to all the people around them. They think of their circle, not the people cleaning their homes and offices, the store cashiers and grocery baggers, the people helping them onto Disney amusement park rides, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think your premise is off - $200k is not middle class, DCUM or elsewhere. It’s upper middle, given the average and median HHI in the DMV. The reason you can’t see that isn’t the tax code, it’s that your daily life surrounds you with other people like you and you measure yourself against them, not the janitors, bus drivers, admin assistants, nurses aids, and construction workers who make up the majority of our population.

Preach!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I notice that DCUM often debates who is wealthy or not, middle class or upper middle class or upper class and so on. I am curious to know, when you state your HHI, which line from the 1040 are you reporting? Are you sharing your line 1 wages, salary and tips? Are you stating line 9 total income? Line 11 adjusted gross income? Or line 15 taxable income?

It seems to me that the truly wealthy will see a bid bump/difference between wages and total income due to the “capital gains/loss” from line 7 and the “other income” flowing in on line 8. The regular middle class will see no substantive difference between line 1 and line 9 because the bulk of their income derives from working a job. The truly wealthy will see a large increase due to income from business activities, trusts, investments, and other passive income sources.

So where do you draw your line, DCUM? I will go first. On salary alone we would be considered DCUM middle class with $200k, but our total income places us at $500k which is widely considered DCUM upper middle class. I wonder if the tax code helps to reveal why so many of us are confused about our tax status?

Why? I just don't understand why you care.

[Anonymous]

Dear Lord, OP, stop obsessing. We have a low income, but a very large stock portfolio. We are wealthy, but not through our professional careers. Some are the opposite.

NO ONE CARES.

[Anonymous]

DCUM most certainly cares. That’s why there are so many threads about class standing, income and wealth. Thank you for your insights.

[Anonymous]

My income is only about $300,000 but I'm truly wealthy because of our $7.5 million net worth. Wealth is not about income reported on a 1040.

[Anonymous]

This AGAIN?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My income is only about $300,000 but I'm truly wealthy because of our $7.5 million net worth. Wealth is not about income reported on a 1040.

That's the point that the OP misses; the last thing wealthy people want is "income" because that's the stuff that gets taxed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My income is only about $300,000 but I'm truly wealthy because of our $7.5 million net worth. Wealth is not about income reported on a 1040.

That's the point that the OP misses; the last thing wealthy people want is "income" because that's the stuff that gets taxed

this is what most americans don’t get.

Wealth inequality is worse than income inequality.

[Anonymous]

OP’s point is that the $7.5 million in net worth showed up in the non-salary lines of the 1040 at some point.

[Anonymous]

Agree with OP and this happens outside DCUM too. I know a woman who refers to herself as middle class and who often talks about challenges related to income. She and her DH used to both be Big Law but she now works a “passion” job making around 50k and he moved to government job. You’d think they were just scraping by.

But they own multiple homes, have rental income, plus large 401ks and other investments from their time making significantly more. Plus family inheritance and funding (ie huge 529 contributions, cash infusions for vacations, home improvements, and other expenditures).

But she’ll call herself middle class and act like she’s struggling because she thinks it helps her fit in at her job. I find it incredibly annoying and would respect her so much more if she just owned her situation.