The charts at the below link are from the CBO. It does a nice job of breaking down what taxes are paid by what income quintiles. http://www.cbo.gov/publications/collections/tax/2010/graphics.cfm Also, chart 5 shows the growth in after-tax income. I think that it pretty clearly shows what many suspect: that the top 1% has been off to the races and that increases in after-tax income appear have a linear relationship with current income. Since I don’t like to make dishonest arguments, I would not that this does note show the movement of people between income brackets. I have seen data on movement between income brackets in separate studies, and the takeaway is that it is unlikely for somebody not currently in the top 1% to attain that level. It is much more likely for somebody in the bottom quintile to move to the second or third quintile. While this chart doesn’t go back that far, the last time that income disparity was this high was directly prior to the Great Depression. Just in case people weren’t scared enough.