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As U.S. Treasury intervened in the bond market, the Netherlands rushed 86 tons of gold out of America because of ‘geopolitical unrest’

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'Critical employees will begin to retire': Trump’s new pay plan will deny most federal roles a raise, and it has workers warning of a retention crunch

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New LA Angels owner Stan Kroenke is quietly America's largest private landowner, boasting 2.7 million acres and besting Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos

Want to Join the 1%? Here’s How Much You Need to Make Per Year

By
Chris Morris
Chris Morris
Former Contributing Writer
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By
Chris Morris
Chris Morris
Former Contributing Writer
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October 18, 2019, 12:17 PM ET
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It’s getting harder to be one of the wealthiest people in the country.

The income levels of the top 1% of taxpayers in the U.S. were up 7.2% in 2017, the most recent numbers available. New data from the Internal Revenue Service puts the entry mark at $515,371 per year.

That’s more than 10 times as high as the adjusted gross income of the benchmark to be part of the top 50% of taxpayers, who take home $41,740 or more. (That group pays 97% of taxes, according to the IRS.)

Even among the rich, there’s an upper echelon. For the 1%, that’s the top 0.1%. To reach that milestone in 2017, you’d have had to earn $2.4 million—a 38% increase since 2011, the heart of the Occupy Wall Street protests, when “the 1%” became part of our national vocabulary.

Income inequality has been a topic frequently discussed by the Democratic presidential candidates this year, especially Bernie Sanders. Earlier this year, a paper authored by UC Berkeley economics professor Gabriel Zucman found that income inequality in the U.S. has reached levels last seen in the years just before the Great Depression.

More must-read stories from Fortune:

—Trump’s tariffs were supposed to ding China, but the U.S. economy is getting hit 2.5x harder
—Inside James Dyson’s costly decision to kill his electric car
—Salesforce founder Marc Benioff on the lessons that business school never taught him
—A key change to mortgage lending rules is coming in 2021. Here’s what that could mean
—Trump’s tax bill has cost homeowners a trillion dollars

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About the Author
By Chris MorrisFormer Contributing Writer

Chris Morris is a former contributing writer at Fortune, covering everything from general business news to the video game and theme park industries.

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