44. Sharon, PA Incomes -- PA Department of Revenue

This writer is no Piketty. But, for Sharon, PA,  the income inequality can be summarized as the top 2% earn the equivalent of the bottom 74% together.

What this means is that opportunities to bootstrap with sweat equity owner occupied homes through a structure and revitalized land bank or a conservatorship is a great community need.

When looking at income distribution and its inequality in 20% or quintile bands one way to so from lowest quintile to highest quintile is to use descriptive terms: Have naught (to $22,800), Have little (to $43,511), Have something (to $72,001), Have enough (to $117,001), Have yachts.

For this discussion 2015 data from the Census Bureau and the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue is used.

The have yachts band, to give some perspective, ranges from $117,002 to within 5% of the top of the fifth quintile band. So, the top 5% begin at $214,000. For the lower part of the quintile handsome motorboats rather than yachts are the norm. Now, the top 1% begins at about $443,100. Some of them have cabin cruisers. It is in reality the top one tenth of 1% that begins to own yachts as the entry income is $11,300,000. At the very highest incomes there are yacht owners who own the yacht factory and the place where the factory is located.

Sharon has a disproportionate number of have naughts and its share of have yachts. The simplest way to express income inequality is from naughts to yachts.

The have naughts and the have little when faced with rental costs have severe problem. The have something quintile band of income is $43,512 to $72,001 does not have the same percentage of income burden as have nothing and have little households do. It is within the third, have something quintile, where the median income for the USA rested at $56,516. Median means that half of the households earn less and half the households earn more.

With income distribution basic facts for the USA reviewed, what is the situation in Sharon, PA?

The flat Pennsylvania income tax gives an accurate picture of the incomes of citizens within a school district. The Department of Revenue posts on its website income tax revenue date by school district. As the City of Sharon School District covers the boundaries of the City of Sharon, the data is accurate.

The latest Department of Revenue data posted on its website is for 2015. Data is displayed by taxable income bands. The percentage of returns for an income band was computed from the Department of Revenue data. The Average income per return for each income band was computed using the Department of Revenue data. Looking at the total taxable income there is a significant range. Total taxable income is displayed dropping  the three 000 to right total taxable income.

			TOTAL TAXABLE	Avg Tax Income
TAXABLE INCOME	NUMBER OF	% Returns	INCOME
0 - 999 . . . . . . . .	546	10	125	228
1000 - 2999 . . . .	353	6	705	1,997
3000 - 4999 . . . .	284	17	1,126	3,964
5000 - 6999 . . . .	285	5	1,694	5,943
7000 - 8999 . . . .	239	10	1,896	7,933
9000 - 10999 . . .	196	3	1,965	10,025
11000 - 12999 . .	213	4	2,564	12,037
13000 - 14999 . .	213	4	2,982	14,000
15000 - 16999 . .	196	3	3,130	15,969
17000 - 18999 . .	186	3	3,342	17,967
19000 - 21999 . .	267	5	5,474	20,501
22000 - 24999 . .	219	4	5,148	23,508
25000 - 29999 . .	344	6	9,459	27,497
30000 - 34999 . .	258	5	8,379	32,476
35000 - 39999 . .	200	4	7,495	37,475
40000 - 49999 . .	331	7	14,857	44,885
50000 - 74999 . .	483	9	29,537	61,153
75000 - 99999 . .	228	4	19,674	82,289
100000 - 149999	184	3	21,796	118,456
150000 - 249999	61	1	11,494	188,426
250000 or MORE	33	1	17,052	516,727
TOTAL. . . . . . . . .	5,319		169,894