
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 24, 1990                   TAG: 9007240162
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

WEALTHIEST 20 MAKE AS MUCH AS REST OF U.S.

The income gap between the rich and the rest of America grew so fast during the past decade that the wealthiest fifth of households will receive as much after-tax revenue as everyone else combined this year, budget analysts outside the government reported Monday.

The report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal non-profit research organization funded by foundations, shows that while the poor grew poorer and the rich got richer during 1980s, the middle class struggled to stay about even.

"The most affluent Americans reaped exceptionally large income gains during that decade, while middle-income Americans gained little and low-income Americans fell further behind," the report said.

Between 1980 and 1990, the average inflation-adjusted, take-home income of the poorest fifth of households fell 5.2 percent, from $7,357 to a projected $6,973. Meanwhile, the household income of the wealthiest fifth grew 32.5 percent, from $58,886 to $78,032.

Incomes for the middle fifth grew 2.7 percent, from $24,031 to $24,691, the report said.

The "share of national income going to middle-income Americans has fallen to the lowest level since the end of World War II," according to the report.

The inflation-adjusted, after-tax income of the richest 1 percent of the nation's households grew 87 percent during the past decade, from $213,675 to $399,697, the report said.

The findings are an analysis of data from the Congressional Budget Office.

by CNB