Googled this awhile ago to see how off-base Waterworld was, and the answer was about 400 ft average worldwide. This includes all glaciers, including the Arctic and Antarctica. Waterworld implied Denver was under 1000s of ft of water, and at a mile above sea level, seemed very impossible. 400 ft can't be ignored, but my place will be seafront by then.

Part of the reason for limiting taxation above $87,900 is that there is - theoretically - a retirement income benefit tied to SS, and this benefit is capped.

I also consider $87,000 upper middle income. The data I've found makes the breakpoint for the upper 20% at $83,500.

There is no tax break being given here. The numbers in my response include income tax and FICA. The SS rate may not remain the same, but 43% of the total Social Security tax revenue was paid by those in the top 20% ( >$83,500 for 2001). 65% of all federal tax revenue was paid by the top 20%.

If you actually read the data for 2001, you'll find that about 93% of all federal tax revenue is paid by the top 50% of workers. This breaks down to 77% of all FICA and 97% of federal income tax revenue. It is interesting that 40% of all federal revenue is FICA, but that does not mean that the lower 50% of workers are paying a disproportionate amount of federal revenue. As with all taxes, the upper 50% are paying the vast percentage of the total.