Census: Inequality grew, including in heartland states

(AP) – The gap between the haves and have-nots in the United States grew last year.

The U.S. Census Bureau said Thursday that an index that measures income inequality in the U.S. increased from 2017 to 2018.

The increase in income inequality comes as two Democratic presidential candidates, U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, are pitching a “wealth tax” on the nation’s richest citizens as a way to reduce wealth disparities.

States that had statistically significant gains in inequality last year were Alabama, Arkansas, California, Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Texas and Virginia.

The data released Thursday comes from the bureau’s American Community Survey program.