Reply to Can we stop referring to households making $200 or 300K a year as "middle class"?

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Reply to "Can we stop referring to households making $200 or 300K a year as "middle class"?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Nothing ordinary about making north of $200K, which puts one in the top 5% of the country.  How is that "middle"?  And please don't say "250K doesn't get you very far in NW DC, Chevy Chase and Bethesda" - living in an expensive area is a choice.  When I lived in NYC, I remember wealthy professionals in Manhattan saying these incomes are "barely getting by" - as if choosing to live in Manhattan isn't itself a luxury.

http://mic.com/articles/64095/what-we-get-wrong-when-we-define-the-middle-class[/quote]

Unfortunately for you, OP, congressional Democrats about 10 years ago very clearly defined $250,000 as "middle class" as part of very high-profile debates over curtailing the Alternative Minimum Tax.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/07/AR2007060702146.html

"Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.), chairman of the House subcommittee with primary responsibility for the AMT, said that option would also lower AMT bills for families making $250,000 to $500,000.

"'There is consensus to make sure that we have some responsible tax policy that will also treat taxpayers fairly. No one ever expected to be caught in the AMT making 75 grand,' said Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), a Ways and Means Committee member whose Los Angeles district is populated by working poor. 'We're trying to come up with a fix that does right by the great majority of Americans who fall into the middle class.'"

So, please, save your disdain and class warfare rhetoric for the truly wealthy. We have a lot more in common with you: We pay mortgages, child care, earn our income from salaries, not income, and have debts.

Ultimately, the fact is this "middle class" you're complaining about pay far more taxes than either you OR the wealthy. You should thank us for the tax burdens we bear so you don't have to.[/quote]

Not surprising that members of Congress decided to set the "not middle class" threshold to be higher than their own incomes.  Figures.  [/quote]

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