Ohio’s top 1 percent of earners make 21 times more than the other 99 percent of earners in Ohio, according to a study released by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank based in Washington, D.C.
The EPI report found that half of economic growth between 1979 and 2012 went to the top 1 percent of earners in the state, whose incomes doubled in that time period. Lower earners’ incomes increased by just 11 percent in the same amount of time. Top-earning Ohioans made more than $850,000 a year on average.
Amy Hanauer, executive director of liberal think tank Policy Matters Ohio, said in a statement the study shows how unequal income distribution in Ohio actually is.
“Unfortunately, many policies in Ohio serve to worsen the situation by shifting to taxes that fall more heavily on the poor and middle class and by cutting college aid and other basics that would help middle-income families earn more,” she said.
Nationally, the top 1 percent of earners make nearly 30 times what the rest of earners bring home on average. Income inequality has been a hot-button issue in the United States over the past few years as a slow-moving economic recovery has largely bypassed low-wage earners.
President Barack Obama and other Democrats have said the growing gap between the country’s highest and lowest earners is one of the country’s top challenges.
Conservative opponents of Democratic proposals for addressing income inequality, including a minimum wage increase and increases to capital gains taxes on stocks and other investments, say that tax or wage increases amount to penalties for succeeding economically and will put a drag on the economy by discouraging job creation.
This article appears in Jan 28 – Feb 3, 2015.