Income surveys made by the Czech Statistical Office are used to document systemic changes in distribution and redistribution of household income and its determinants in the period 1988-1996. In the first part, the growing difficulties of income surveys under the liberal regime are reflected. In the second part, the substantive meaning of various income indicators and their relationship to the political regime and economic situation is discussed. In the third part, growing disparities of income after 1989 and the shift from demographic factors (numbers of active earners and children, age) to socio-economic factors (education, occupation) are displayed. In the fourth part, increasing redistribution of income through taxes and social benefits is documented. And in the fifth part, comparison with Western countries (using mostly the LIS database) serves for resuming the degree of adjustment to the market in various aspects of income distribution.