Posted on January - 19 - 2012
Income Inequality went Up 12 Percent under Clinton, Zero under Bush
It is a good rule to question every study on income inequality by asking, “Why those years?”
The latest version is from the Congressional Research Service (CRS), and the author concludes:
“Changes in income from capital gains and dividends were the single largest contributor to rising income inequality between 1996 and 2006. Changes in tax policy also made a significant contribution to the increase in income inequality, but even in the absence of tax policy changes income inequality would likely have increased.”
And about those years:
“The years 1996 and 2006 are examined for several reasons. First, both years were at approximately similar points of the business-cycle with moderate inflation (about 3%), a modest unemployment rate (about 5%), and moderate economic growth (3.7% in 1996 and 2.7% in 2006). Second, 2006 was the year before the August 2007 liquidity crunch and the onset of the severe 2007-2009 recession. Third, there were major tax policy changes between these two years. Fo
