Wealth Inequality In America

Wealth Inequality Wealth inequality is the unequal distribution of wealth and assets of residents in the United States. Wealth inequality affects every person and continues to grow rapidly. As it is growing rapidly, more people are being affected by it, in a positive and negative way. America is divided on wealth and Americans are discriminated because of their socio-economic status. Wealth inequality has been evident throughout the history of the U.S.. It has seem to prevail “since the mid 1970s” (Goldberg) and it has not gone away, in fact, it has gotten much worst. Many factors leading to this could be “ideology, the market economy, and government policies” (Goldberg) these have changed as our society and economy have grown. Ideology could …show more content…
taxing methods are also a reason why wealth inequality has increased within time. A decrease in taxes for the one-percent and upper-class also contributes to wealth inequality. Studies show that some lower-class Americans pay more in taxes than upper-class. One thing that could be fixed is our method of taxing, rather than using a regressive tax method we could use the progressive tax method. With the progressive method, the rich would be taxed more than the middle or lower class, so that not only would we have more tax money for spending, but also more equality within the people. Someone who makes $22,000 a year should not be taxed the same as someone who makes $100,000 dollars a year. One tax that the U.S. government could create an ‘estate tax’ which “tax imposed on the value of an inheritance” (Means) so that people who are getting large amounts of wealth, whether it be money or assets, can equal out the costs. But, the government makes this tax nearly impossible, “if the inheritance is not over 2.5 million, they do not tax” (Means) so, the government does ‘create’ certain taxes to help the distribution, but whether they are effective or not is the question. Our current method of taxing is making wealth inequality more evident in today’s society. It seems in today’s society taxing seems to benefit the rich more than the population as a whole, including the …show more content…
There are many reasons for this, whether it be government polices, taxation, or demographics they all contribute to this problem. While there are many simple solutions to decrease the prevalence of this, we must figure out a solution in order to cease a majority of it. As it says in the constitution the rights of citizens are “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness” (Thomas Jefferson) and the government must protect those rights. With this issue causing people to suffer, whether they be in the middle or low-class or a minority the government is not protecting the right of liberty. Wealth inequality has been increasing since World War II, a reason for this is the way we have modified our taxing system within the past decades. Also, society has now allowed us to categorize ourselves by our income, whether it be personal or capital. By doing this, it has created a sense of classes within society, and with wealth inequality, the gap seems to be getting bigger and bigger as time passes. Wealth inequality is growing as fast as our economy seems to be, so if we do not fix this problem many citizens will continue to

Show More