When I am working with my client’s and I let them know that they are in the top 10% of the country they typically are aghast.
The threshold for the top 10% of earners is just over $138,000. That could easily be a married couple both making $70,000, with a mortgage, HELOC, two car payments, credit card debt, a couple of kids and a sneeze away for the house of cards falling apart.
With property taxes in Cook County easily hitting the 5 digit mark this is looking more likely for some.
So what does it take to get into the 1 percent? The price of admission is an adjusted gross income of $480,930.
When client enter this realm they are surprised to find that they are technically rubbing elbows with the elite. Assuming of course, that the ultra-wealthy have not used taxation sleight of hand to reduce their tax liability to get to a lower tax level.
Also another interesting statistic is that the top 10% of all taxpayers have paid 70.6% of all the income taxes paid.
The above statistics have come from Kiplinger and are based on the 2015 tax data which is current the most current available.