In how many years will someone with a yearly income of $1,000,000 be considered poor?

Question

Nowadays, people are growing more and more wealthy, so wealthy, in some cases, that they are consumed with greed (we all remember Ebenezer Scrooge). But the monthly taxes (and yearly income) are getting higher and higher, and for some people, a large income cannot cover all the taxes. If this keeps up, we may all soon have an income that is similar to that of Bill Gates or Donald Trump or Oprah Winfrey yet we still may not be able to keep up wth the rising taxes. So I ask you:
In how many years will someone with a yearly income of $1,000,000 be considered poor?
I'd say in about 20-30 years, but I'm not a psychic: I can't recieve premonitions of the future, or of the future minimum wage.

Answer 1

People today are considered to be in poverty class if their income is under $10,000, which is why they aren't required to file federal taxes. The inflationary trend in the USA for the past 100 years is about 3-fold for every 20 years. So, in roughly 90 years from now, or about year 2100, $1,000,000 will be considered poverty income.

Answer 2

Your income and being rich (wealthy if you would) are unrelated and often confused. I will give you an example: I make about 8000 a month (currency of my country) considered pretty high income as a house goes for about 120,000. My brother makes 2000 a month. Guess who is richer... that is right, my brother, his luxury house is paid up, his car is paid, he has no debt and some savings. I pay more than half my income in interest from debts due to my mishandling of money... if i am hungry and at a restaurant i never look at the right side of the menu... so in short. Being rich is having more money that you need, being poor is the opposite, regardless of how much your income is. You can see famous celebrities, in their late life barely making it... because they had to have all the bling bling... then you see Warren Buffet... has lived an extremely meager life, compared to his means of course... and he is the third man with most savings in the world :) In any case... a good rule of thumb would be: IF the income from your investments is enough to cover your expenses and then some you are rich... For an average US single, 1million total assets assuming a 200K home should qualify them as rich assuming their assets are smartly managed (and that they do not work Ha Ha)

Answer 3

If the inflation rate is held constant at 4%, then roughly 110 years before such an annual income is worth just $11,215 in todays terms. (If you believe the inflation measure!)

Answer 4

It is really hard for me to believe that by the end of this century, that $1,000,000 would be considered poverty level, no matter what the calculations maybe.