| Incomes. | Number. |
| Between £160 and £700 | 820,000 |
| Exceeding £700 | 280,000 |
| Total | 1,100,000 |
I think that this estimate of 1,100,000 may be accepted with confidence as a near approximation to the actual number of individual incomes which exceeded £160 per annum in 1908-9.
Taking 1,100,000 as a trustworthy figure, we are in a position to show how the population of the United Kingdom is divided by the line of income tax exemption. If we assume that each of the 1,100,000 persons is the head of a family of five persons, we get, by obvious calculation, the following result:
THE EQUATOR of BRITISH INCOMES
| £909,000,000 per annum taken by 5,500,000 people having Incomes of £160 and upwards per annum |
| £935,000,000 per annum taken by 39,000,000 people having Incomes below £160 per annum |
| In 1908 the Income Tax Exemption limit of £160 per annum divided the National Income into two almost equal parts. |
DISTRIBUTION OF THE NATIONAL INCOME AS BETWEEN
THOSE WITH MORE AND THOSE WITH LESS
THAN £160 PER ANNUM (1908-9)
| Number. | Income. | |
| Persons with incomes of over £160 and their families (1,100,000 × 5) | 5,500,000 | £909,000,000 |
| Persons with incomes of less than £160 and their families (total population less 5,500,000) | 39,000,000 | 935,000,000 |
| 44,500,000 | £1,844,000,000 |
These striking facts are expressed in diagrammatic form on page 45. Broadly speaking, it is shown that one-half of the entire income of the United Kingdom is enjoyed by about 12 per cent. of its population.