[Reiwa]

Originally Posted by Botten [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The right has it engraved in their heads that if they haven't worked for it then they don't deserve it. That it is socialism if we ever go back to the early 1940s, where the top marginal tax rate for the wealthiest Americans reached as high as 94%.

The Good Ol’ Days: When Tax Rates Were 90 Percent

Regardless, one should ask how much the rich were actually paying. It should be noteworthy that back in the 1950s, the government wasn’t actually collecting any more in tax revenue as a percentage of GDP. There’s something called Hauser’s Law, which basically states there is a maximum threshold on how much the government can tax out of its population. I think this “law” is no such thing. If the government really wanted to expropriate more, it could do so. But Hauser’s Law based on the fact that in pretty much every year since 1950, the government has collected between 17 to 20 percent of GDP in taxes. Here are the government tax receipts compared to the top marginal tax rate:

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