>Doug, what is your source for the stat that 2% - 3% of
>US households have incomes of $200,000 + ??
There's no simple source for high income info. Tax info excludes low-income people, and the Census "top-codes" its data, treating all income over a certain limit as the equivalent of that limit - to protect privacy, they say. Besides, very rich people don't answer questionnaires. The Fed does its Survey of Consumer Finances every three years, which does hit high-income households, but their income distribution data is very sparse. Any stat-heads are welcome to run that data and report.
According to the Census <http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/histinc/h0101.html>, the lowest income in the top 5% was $150,002 in 2002. So I was just guessing based on that. 3-4% might be more accurate.
Doug