Both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have tax plans that extend the "middle class" classification up to those earning $250,000 a year — a number that some experts say is arbitrary and false.
According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau statistics reported by CNN Money, those with incomes of $250,000 a year are among the nation's top earners, with households making $206,600 considered within the top 5 percent in 2014. A truly "middle class" American family makes more like $53,700 a year; Pew Research Center defines the middle class as those making two-thirds to two times the median income for one's household size, meaning a truly middle-class family of three would earn between $42,000 and $126,000 a year.
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