An eager reader forwards me this Investopedia article noting that the concentration wealth is not quite as bad in South Dakota as across the country:
In 37 states and the District of Columbia, the top 1% of filers together reported more income than the bottom half. Nationwide, the top 1% reported about 20% of all income, while the bottom 50% reported about 13%.
Wyoming has the highest share of income going to the top 1%. The top 1% averaged $4.2 million in adjusted gross income and collectively reported $11 billion in income, about 32% of the state’s $35 billion total.
In Florida and Nevada, the top 1% averaged $3.3 million and $3.0 million in adjusted gross income and claimed 29% and 27%, respectively, of all income reported. In Wyoming and Florida, the top 1% out-earned the bottom half by about 2.5-to-1.
In contrast, filers in the top 1% in West Virginia averaged about $977,000 and reported about 12% of the state’s income. Next lowest were Alaska and Hawaii, where the top percentile of earners reported about 13% and 14%, respectively, of income on tax filings [Sarina Trangle, “Where the Richest 1% Grab the Biggest Share of Income, State by State,” Investopedia, 2026.09.16].
South Dakota’s richest 1% reported only 19% of the income claimed in the state in 2023, while the bottom half of tax filers claimed 16% of that year’s income. That distribution was slightly better than the national average, but South Dakota still ranks 14th for concentration of wealth at the top. Every neighboring state except for Wyoming had a lower gap between the top 1%’s hoard and the bottom 50%’s stake.
The average income for South Dakota’s top 1% was $2.1 million, half the elite average in Wyoming but the same as North Dakota’s. In Minnesota, the top 1% averaged only $1.8 million.
If you think concentration of wealth is bad (and you should), you may take some consolation in seeing that South Dakota’s 1% aren’t quite as inordinately wealthy as they are by the national average. But South Dakota’s wealthy elites are still claiming more of the state income pie than their counterparts in 37 other states.
Sooo, South Dakota is a poor state? Who knew?
If this is “reported income” (presumably from IRS reporting), I would remind us that the truly RICH have no reported income. That’s a core problem with our income tax: in only hits those with reported income.
Right, O, especially with the “don’t bother the rich” IRS budget cuts Thune and company have enforced. Thune’s IRS budget cuts have stripped the IRS and an untold number of other agencies billions of dollars of taxpayer investment in training and experience. Of course, they think that’s great: they don’t want the big bad gov to have expertise…they’re easier to beat in court that way. Under the GOP system, only the honest and W-2 wage earners pay what the law says. Only the honest and conscientious comply with other controversial federal laws. The rest of us can pretty much play the audit roulette game and pay what they want. What a way to run a “voluntary” tax system. I cannot express harshly enough my judgment of the damage Thune & Co have done to the fiscal condition of our country and to our democracy.
South Dakota compounds its wealth inequality by levying the 6th most regressive state and local tax system in the nation–heavily reliant on regressive sales taxes and property taxes–with no progressive income tax.
In South Dakota the bottom 20% pay 11.4% of family income in state and local taxes–the top 1% pay only 2.6%.
TTEP South Dakota: Who Pays? 7th Edition
South Dakota has the 6th most regressive state and local tax system in the country. Income disparities are larger in South Dakota after state and local taxes are collected than before.
https://itep.org/south-dakota-who-pays-7th-edition/
https://itep.org/whopays-7th-edition/#10-most-regressive-state-and-local-tax-systems
State and Local Taxes as Share of Family Income:
Lowest 20 percent 11.4%
Second 20 percent 8.8%
Middle 20 percent 8.6%
Fourth 20 percent 7.0%
Next 15 percent 6.7%
Next 4 percent 4.2%
Top 1 percent 2.6%
Homeboy, excellent reminder. The Tax Policy Center says: Hundreds of billions in owed taxes continue to go uncollected annually due to reduced oversight on high earners and corporations.