The answer is a definite yes: according to figures produced by the Inland Revenue Department in 2015, you needed an income of over $200,000 to be in that category.

How many more of Dougherty’s appointees to council staff are also members of the top 1 percent?  A good question, which we will ask.

In the UK, the equivalent figure is very similar: in 2014, you needed to earn £119,498  ($NZ 217,000) per year to put you in the top 1% of earners there, according to this webpage.

Income statistics in the U.S. include realized capital gains, which figures in NZ don’t, however, the current figure required to make it into the top 1% there is $429,000 ($NZ 610,000) per year. Outside of the top 1%, however, the average income of the ‘bottom 99%’ is $45,567 ($NZ 64,600).

According to Statistics NZ, for people aged 15 years and over, the median income (half earn more, and half less) in Waikanae was just $28,800 in the 2013 census.