What income level constitutes "rich" and who decides that on a tax level?

Question

What constitutes rich? I see people say "rich people should pay more taxes" but I wonder who determines "rich." Can the definition of "rich" be adjusted? If the "rich" are being taxed, who's to say that they won't adjust the definition of rich to encompass other income levels? What prevents you from being judged "rich" compared to some other person and taxed an exceedingly large rate? And who supports a family on minimum wage anyways? I worked from minimum wage (as a teenager) and in less than a year I was making $10 an hour, and now I make $50k with only an associates degree. So do I qualify as "rich?" Is it $40k, $30k, who decides? What's to stop it from encompassing me one day? Or you?

Answer 1

According to the recent IRS tax tables, a single person earning more than $77,150 is taxed at 28% while a person earning more than $349,700 is taxed at 35%.

For married couples, the 28% bracket begins at $128,500 but the 35% bracket remains unchanged at $349,700.

If you make $50K and live in a relatively cheap part of the country, you can be considered rich. If you lived in Washington, DC, $50K barely gets you in a 1 BR apartment near the University of MD.

What is "rich" is really relative especially in a day and age where thousands of dollars can be spent in a blink of an eye.

Answer 2

The tax rates are defined in law. That's the easy answer.

What constitutes "rich" is as much a state of mind as it is economics. At $50k, you're decidedly middle class by common definition. Most folks would consider themselves "rich" if they had a net worth in excess of $1 million. But standing next to Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, they'd be quite "poor" by comparison.

As to minimum wage, you actually could support a family of 4 on minimum wage ($1.40) in 1967. It would be very basic survival, but it could be done. If the minimum wage kept up with inflation, it would be around $11.50 an hour today and a family of 4 could survive on it.