Define 'wealthy' | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

After hearing President Barack Obama repeatedly call as rich individuals who earn more than $200,000 or couples who earn $250,000, I wondered what that translated into for my parents in 1966, when I graduated from high school.

Using www.usinflationcalculator.com, those incomes equaled $28,000 and $35,000. Wow! — my parents were rich! Back then, Dad earned $18,500 and Mom $16,500 (together, equal to to $250,000 today), but our family was not rich.

Our middle class neighborhood wasn't lined with big homes, nor did anyone drive a fancy car. Those richer people lived in Indian Hills or the upper Avenues — not where we lived.

Back then, wealthy people then earned $70,000 to $100,000, which today is $500,000 to $715,000.

So when talking about Obama's tax plan, let's define wealthy correctly.

Douglas L. Webb

Sandy