FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, an article by Joseph A. Pechman entitled “The Rich, the Poor, and the Taxes They Pay” was published in this journal. Then, as now, the distribution of income was a hotly debated subject. Relying primarily on introspection and casual investigations, people are forever arguing whether the rich or the poor are getting richer. Such arguments cannot be resolved without hard facts, however. Income inequality is a serious issue and those who make policy decisions on the basis of intuition or dogma can do considerable damage.