The top 1 percent of America’s wealthy now control more than a third of the nation’s wealth

That’s according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The report found that, adjusted for inflation, America’s wealth quadrupled between 1989 and 2022. In currency-adjusted terms, Uncle Sam’s wealth grew from $52 trillion to $199 trillion, at an average growth rate of about 4% per year.

In 2022, about 40 percent of Americans’ wealth consisted of retirement savings and Social Security benefits, with the rest invested in equity, non-retirement financial assets, and other holdings.

But not only has America been getting richer, the CBO found, inequality has become even more pronounced over those three decades.

In 2022, families in the top 10% of America owned 60% of all wealth, up from 56% in 1989. Families in the top 1% owned 23% of the nation’s wealth in 1989, which has now increased to 27%.

While this is good news for the super-rich, those in the top half of the income distribution actually saw their share of assets decline over the 33-year window.

The share of wealth held by the group occupying the 10% to 40% range has reduced its share from 37% of the nation’s assets to 33%. Families in the bottom half of the distribution held 6% of all wealth in both 1989 and 2022.

Life in the top 10%

Families whose wealth exceeds $2.9 million are in the top 10% of US wealth. But while the benchmark to join the exclusive club is $3 million, the average funds of the top 10% in 2022 was $9.1 million.

“After falling during the 2007-2009 recession, the group’s average wealth increased, driven by increases in the value of all asset classes,” the report said. “From 2019 to 2022, the average value of nearly every asset class held by families in the group continued to increase.”

To be in America’s top 1 percent, the benchmark for entry is considerably higher—Bankrate estimates the median wealth of the upper echelon to be $33.4 million in 2023.

Such levels of wealth would qualify many to fall under a proposed millionaires’ tax proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The issue of wealth inequality has sparked interest in recent months after Senator Sanders discussed the topic with Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates, who appeared receptive to some of the politician’s suggestions.

Sanders’ plan calls for a 1 percent annual tax on a married couple’s net worth of more than $32 million. For example, a couple worth $32.5 million would pay an annual tax of $5,000. This tax rate would increase to 2 percent for couples with a net worth of $50 million to $250 million, 3 percent from $250 million to $500 million, and 4 percent from $500 million to $1 billion.

For the billionaire bracket, those with a net worth of between $2.5 billion and $5 billion would pay 6% tax on over $32 million, 7% between $5 billion and $10 billion and 8% on wealth over $10 billion dollars.

About the plan, Gates told them Continue with Kara Swisher podcast in an episode released last week: “We would still have to grow the economy to get to the ideal level to set the safety net as high as Bernie alludes to. As you get richer, you raise your safety net.

“That’s the story of the United States, government is not very good at execution, so, you know, it’s always imperfect.”

Indeed, the CBO report concludes that the top 1% are driving wealth gains in America, so Sen. Sanders’ so-called “safety net” could be on the rise for the foreseeable future.

“Family wealth has been skewed toward families at the top of the wealth distribution over the entire 33-year period,” the CBO writes. “The proportion of wealth held by families in the top 10% of the distribution has increased; the earnings of the top 1% accounted for all of this growth.”

25% down

When JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said the American dream was disappearing, he wasn’t wrong. In an opinion piece for Washington Postwrote the 68-year-old: “The American Dream is disappearing for many because opportunity is not shared equally.”

The earnings of those at the bottom of the income spectrum – and their net worth – pales in comparison to those in the top percentile.

According to the CBO report, families in the bottom 25 percent of wealth had less than $178,600. On average, they had $74,200. Of that cohort, 23% – or 8% of the total population – had a negative net worth where their debt exceeded their marketable assets.

While inequality has become more pronounced, the bottom 25% are better off than they were 30 years ago – and more so in recent years.

The CBO writes that wealth growth in the bottom 25 percent averaged 3.9 percent from 1989 to 2019 and 12.4 percent from 2019 to 2022, largely driven by increases in Social Security wealth.