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In Point of Fact |
from NewsLink, Vol. 3, No. 1, Fall 1998
And now, the` mass upper class'
First, the U.S. economy created a stable working class. Then, after World War II came the mass middle class. Now comes what some observers are calling the world's first “mass upper class.” These are Americans who are comfortable, but not rich. They earn at least $100,000 a year - and they spend on waterfront vacations, expensive sport-utility vehicles and houses bigger than their parents had. Notwithstanding downdrafts on Wall Street and chill deflationary winds from Asia, America's mass upper class is probably here to stay - a permanent stratum of the economic bedrock that has continued to grow in size and influence.
Nando Times, October 1998.Lower taxes are just a cell phone call away.
Swedish telecom giant Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson said it signed a letter of interest to acquire an office building in London, raising the likelihood that it will move its headquarters away from Sweden. The Swedish government says it refuses to lower tax rates to accommodate large companies' recruitment problems and says that Ericsson should raise salaries instead. In recent years, Ericsson has threatened loudly and repeatedly to move its headquarters away from Sweden because the country's high income taxes make it hard to recruit foreign talent. Several other Swedish companies have already outsourced part of their operations to countries with more favorable tax rates.
Almar Latour, Wall Street Journal, August 24, 1998.Taxes do matter at the margin and over the border.
Canadian business leaders were told recently that the tax system is robbing them of more than incentives, profits and competitive advantages: It's robbing them of the brains of their operations. Peter Harris, chair of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce tax committee, told the chamber that Canada is losing ground against countries like the United States, where lower taxes lure businesses and people to locate. “The highest marginal individual tax rate in Canada, which is about 52% -53%, is reached when a person hits $59,000 taxable income,” said Harris. He said lower tax rates in the United States mean more people have more money to spend. That is one of the reasons Canada is losing a growing number of what he called “its best and brightest.”
Montreal Gazette, September 5, 1998.The Internet big bang! How big? Very big!
John Chambers, Cisco Systems Inc.'s chief executive, whose company is the leading maker of Internet equipment, estimates that between $1 trillion to $2 trillion worth of goods and services will be sold on the Net by 2002. Although sales between businesses will dominate electronic commerce in the near term, Chambers says that by 2002 consumer-oriented business will represent 50% of the Internet economy.
Eric Auchard, Reuters/Wired, October 1998.More Americans joining ranks of wealthy, IRS says.
The number of taxpayers who reported an adjusted gross income of $200,000 or more reached nearly 1.3 million in 1995, the most recent year available, according to IRS figures released recently. That was an increase of 14% from the year before. In all, returns from the wealthiest segment of the population amounted to only about 1.1% of total tax returns that year, but they paid $182.5 billion in federal taxes.
Curt Anderson, Associated Press, October 1, 1998.
the guarantee, of further robust
NewsLink is the quarterly newsletter of the Beacon Hill Institute for Public Policy Research at Suffolk University. © 1996-2002. All rights reserved. Posted on 11/20/98.
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