Income Inequality In The City

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Income inequality is a major issue in urban areas, particularly New York City. The top 5% of salary earners, on average, earn 88 times more than those in the bottom 20%, the biggest gap in any city in the United States. This leads to a wide degree of variety of how people in the city live. Many enjoy lavish ways of life while others can’t pay their monthly rent. The creation of government programs that provide assistance to those who make extremely low salaries, funded by tax dollars of the wealthiest earners, would lessen the gap between the rich and the poor and help those living in poverty forge a path to reach financial stability.

The major cause of this issue is the opposite economic problems the rich and poor face. The rising cost …show more content…
As the population of the city increases, so does the number of citizens in poverty. This has led to food pantries struggling to keep up with the increased demand of people who cannot afford food. Meanwhile, the resurgence of the technology industry and Wall Street have allowed the rich to earn more, and expand their businesses and homes, continuing to take real estate away from low-wage …show more content…
The government should be responsible for providing these services, which could include providing housing subsidies, better access to food pantries, and availability of health care. With basic living essentials taken care of, low-wage earners will be able to save money and over time, have earned enough to no longer need these services. The funding for these programs should come from taxes from higher wage earners. By distributing the earnings of the entire city’s citizens in this manner, the gap between the rich and the poor will be reduced. The poor will benefit from assistance that will allow them to live reasonable lifestyles, and the rich will continue to maintain their lifestyles while giving back to those who need it. This solution has the potential to work since it can be fairly and consistently enforced by the government, who would manage the process and ensure that all citizens who need these services would obtain them. Additionally, businesses would not be affected by this program since the benefits and cost go to/from the people themselves, not via their employers. This allows for a simplified method of the government providing those who make below what is necessary to pay for basic necessities services that can help them make better use of the money they do
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