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Utah’s wealth gap is smallest in the nation

The wealth gap is a hot political issue. It led Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren to propose tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans to fund programs for the middle class and poor. President Donald Trump attacks that as socialism.

But amid such debate for the second straight year, Utah enjoys the nation’s smallest wealth gap — with relatively few who are ultra-rich or miserably poor, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released Thursday.

“We’re homogenous,” said Pam Perlich, senior demographer for the University of Utah’s Kem C.