The hard truths of America’s middle class families

The revelations of the Miami Herald’s Oct. 6 front-page story “Pandora Papers” and a new analysis of the American middle class, suggests that our middle class is among the poorest among advanced nations.

To be considered middle class, a family must: own a home, a car, afford vacations, have a secure pension and healthcare, be able to educate their children through college and have an annual income ranging between $51,000 to $135,000.

Recent studies reveal, however, that true annual income among most of America’s middle class families hovers right around $51,000.

To add insult to injury, the American family does not have the support provided by advanced nations to secure the basic necessities of being middle class.

Furthermore, civil engineers give our country’s infrastructure failing grades, and our system of government, like much of the country, is divided.

We have learned that our richest citizens do not need to hide their wealth in offshore accounts. The American tax system is so generous that hiding wealth is unnecessary.

The average middle class family paid more in income taxes than Donald Trump, our former billionaire president, whose greatest achievement was to grant tax breaks to those in his billionaire class.

Leona Helmsley, heiress to a hotel fortune, whose reputation for tyrannical behavior earned her the nickname Queen of Mean, once stated, “We don’t pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes.”

The 18th century Irish writer Oliver Goldsmith wrote, “Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.”