Apropos of not very much, this link is to a page showing Top US Marginal Income Tax Rates, 1913–2003 (TruthAndPolitics.org)
One thing I happen to think is necessary to keep America healthy is to avoid overly large concentrations of wealth. A large middle class strikes me as essential to a healthy democracy. I have no problem with a few super wealthy families or a fairly large population of moderately rich families. (Defining those terms could probably fill a text book, but hey, my blog — I get to be sloppy when I feel like it.) What isn’t healthy is the prospect of a major portion of the nation’s wealth concentrated in the hands of a few families — let’s say more than 50% of the wealth into the hands of less than 1% of the population. Anyway, I’m not sure there’s a perfect correlation between concentration of wealth and higher income tax rates, but it seems like there would be a strong relationship.
Another thing is that the U.S. isn’t really acting like it’s at war with respect to the top tax rates. Looking at other war periods:
1917 – 1919 (WWI): 77% on everything over $1 million.
1941 – 1945 (WWII): 88% on everything over $200,000.
1950 – 1953 (Korean War): 91% on everything over $400,000.
~1966 – 1973 (Vietnam War): 70% on everything over $200,000.
2001 – 2003 (War on Terror(tm)): 35% on everything over $310,000+-
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