If President-Elect Obama follows through on his campaign promise to hike the income tax rate for “rich” Americans, just exactly who who will be hit?
Fortune magazine’s November 10 issue does a great service by putting a face on a segment of the targeted group: the five million U.S. households with income between $250,000 and $500,000 per year.
Fortune dubs them the HENRYs — High Earners, Not Rich Yet.
These folks have a standard of living that is certainly comfortable, but far from the stereotypical image of the idle class that’s rolling in dough and divorced from the reality of most Americans. They’re accomplished people like Charlotte residents Drs. Kymberly and John Selden — a pediatrician and a dentist who make $350,000 per year.
Writes Fortune of the HENRYs:
These folks aren’t America’s hedge fund managers, investment bankers, or CEOs – who boast net worths in the multimillions and qualify as rich right now. Instead, these are the doctors, consultants, and attorneys, the marketing managers and CIOs, the owners of real estate agencies and security firms. They write the contracts, inspire the sales teams, and integrate computer systems. They own many of America’s small businesses.
We should be holding up the Seldens and other HENRYs as role models, rather than targeting and penalizing them for their hard work and success.
