STUDY: RICH GETTING RICHER, EVERYONE ELSE HOLDING STEADY
Monday, January 30th, 2006 -- 11:22 AM
The rich are getting richer, and everyone else is holding steady. A study released last week finds a growing income gap in Wisconsin?and the study?s authors say that?s bad news for the state.Over the last 20 years, the richest Wisconsinites have had almost a 50-percent jump in income?compared with a 14-percent climb at the lowest income levels. ?You can see that story in the loss of manufacturing jobs and good-paying jobs at the sort of middle of the income distribution, and more jobs sort of down at the bottom of the income distribution,? says Laura Dresser with the Center on Wisconsin Strategies.
Dresser says increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit, tweaking the tax system to help low-income workers, and boosting the minimum wage would help fix the growing income disparity.
?The more the poor are left behind, the more their sense of isolation and their inability to reach over the gap and make their way out of poverty. So it rips the social fabric when there is too much inequality.?
On the Web: [url=http://www.cows.org]COWS Website[/url]
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.