Reply #80: Richest 400 Took Record Share Of Capital Gains During Market Meltdown Year

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http://blogs.forbes.com/janetnovack/2011/05/11/richest-400-took-record-share-of-capital-gains-during-market-meltdown-year/

The 400 highest-income Americans reaped a stunning 13.1% of net capital gains reported to the Internal Revenue Service for 2008, a year which ended with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 33.8%, the S&P 500 index down 38.5% and the NASDAQ composite off 40.5%.

That’s just one of the fascinating tidbits in the Internal Revenue Service’s latest annual report on the 400 highest income taxpayers, available here. Still, the new report shows the highest income folk, who are heavily dependent on capital gains, felt the market pain too. Overall, the top 400 taxpayers posted an average of $153.7 million in gains each (or a total of $61.5 billion in gains) down from $228.6 million (or a total of $91.4 billion) in 2007. As a result, the average adjusted gross income of the 400 declined nearly 22% to a mere $270.5 million, from a record $344.8 million for 2007. It was still the second highest on record, topping 2006’s average AGI of $263.3 million. The cut-off for making the top 400 in 2008 was AGI of $110 million, down from $139 million in 2007.