Still, it's interesting to ask what forms those claims take. Especially since there is a widely-held belief that today, unlike in the bad old days, the incomes of even the super rich are, at least on paper, mainly compensation for their work -- that they're a return on "human capital" rather than the old-fashioned kind. Is there anything to that?
Here's what the IRS Statistics of Income says:
Share of total income by source, filers reporting $1 million or more
| Year | Wages and salaries | Interest, dividends, rent | Capital gains | Business income |
| 1995 | 31.0% | 17.2% | 28.4% | 23.1% |
| 2000 | 33.2% | 10.3% | 42.5% | 13.1% |
| 2005 | 26.9% | 15.7% | 38.1% | 22.3% |
| 2008 | 30.7% | 19.8% | 30.4% | 23.2% |
Share of total income by source, filers reporting $10 million or more
| Year | Wages and salaries | Interest, dividends, rent | Capital gains | Business income |
| 2000 | 25.0% | 8.6% | 58.2% | 7.4% |
| 2005 | 17.5% | 17.4% | 50.8% | 17.8% |
| 2008 | 18.8% | 22.1% | 45.4% | 18.7% |
Share of total income by source, all filers
| Year | Wages and salaries | Interest, dividends, rent | Capital gains | Business income |
| 1995 | 76.4% | 7.3% | 4.0% | 6.9% |
| 2000 | 70.0% | 6.5% | 9.7% | 6.6% |
| 2005 | 69.5% | 6.8% | 8.9% | 8.9% |
| 2008 | 72.0% | 8.1% | 5.6% | 7.5% |
Source: IRS Statistics of income, author's calculations
Notes: Income above $1 million not broken out before 2000. All nonwage income is net of losses. Business income includes business/professional income, S corporation and partnership income, and farm income.
So no, it's no more true than it ever was that the rich earn their money, in even the most limited formal sense.
EDIT: In retrospect, I guess it would have been better to do the tables by year, with the rows by income class. Oh well.
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