From a reader:

Dear Jonah, I agree with the points in your article, but when we talk about individual taxpayers as statistical brackets, I believe it is easy to leave the impression that the upper 1% or 5% only includes mega-wealthy people like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett. Not so! According to IRS data (2005; Current Dollars) the top 1% of income before deductions and personal exemptions (adjusted gross income or AGI) started at $365,000 or about $183,000 each for a working couple. In short, any two professionals marry and you are in the top 1% of all taxpayers. The top 5% of taxpayers starts at an AGI of about $145,000. A cop marries a teacher — welcome to the ranks of “rich” Americans. Amazingly enough, the top 50% of all taxpayers starts at a lowly $31,000 of AGI (and this group pays about 97% of all income taxes. So when the socialistas in Congress talk about screwing the “rich”, they are really talking about all of us. People like Gates and Buffett are excluded because an army of tax lawyers and accountants protect their earnings from the federal highwaymen.

Me: I haven’t checked the reader’s numbers. But they sound about right. See this from the Tax Foundation for more.

Update: Another reader responds:

I know you say you haven’t “checked the reader’s numbers,” but be
reasonable. What the reader, and you, are trying to imply is that the
majority of us are in the top 1% or 5%. By definition, that’s untrue
or it would not be the top 1% or 5%–”So when the socialistas in
Congress talk about screwing the “rich”, they are really talking about
all of us.”
Secondly, you’d have to be pretty out of touch with salaries to
believe that an average cop and a teacher have an AGI of $145,000.
For that matter, two average professionals wouldn’t be close to
earning $365,000 per year. Two full time NYC lawyers–sure.
This “American Dream” bulls**t tries to tell everybody they are “the
wealthy” that everybody else is referring to. It’s ridiculous and you
know it.
Thanks.

Me: While there’s a lot to quibble with here (lots of people — kids, retirees, etc — don’t count as the “us” he’s referring to. And age and mobility is an important variable; who cares if unmarried young 20 somethings don’t make much money if they will by the time they get married? etc). But I think he’s right to cry foul on the play. For example, the combined salary of a cop and a teacher is more likely to hover around $80-$90K if we’re talking about people with a few years on the job in a major city.