On Thu, 30 Sep 2010 18:59:40 -0400, Tom Littleton wrote:

well, I've waded through all this, and coincidentally read a very
interesting take on matters today. It discussed the 'golden era' that
many of the Tea Party types seem to look back upon, the 1950's. You
know, capitalism worked well, jobs were created, folks were moving
forward reasonably. You know how the tax code worked, back then?
Anything in income over $500,000(in today's money, about $4,000,000) got
taxed at the top federal rate. That rate? 91%. That's right, 91%.
If we had something along those lines in effect right now, taxing all
income over $4,000,000 at 91%, roughly $400 billion annually would go
into the budget. And the number affected? Roughly 0.04% of the entire
population. It wouldn't impact small businesses, it wouldn't cause the
government to have to gauge middle class earners with an AMT, none of
that. I have to admit that I've always been intrigued by Andrew
Carnegie's idea of a 90% inheritance tax, but the 1950's tax code works
just fine the way I see it, as well.
Tom


While it is true that the "technical" top tax bracket was 91% (on "net taxable
income"), the loopholes were, well, more the rule than the exception, so very
few actually paid 91%.

And you might wish to consider what folks like Carnegie did with their money -
while they certainly gave a lot away, they sure didn't leave the kids,
grandkids, etc. eating out of dumpsters - do some quick research into Bessemer
Trust (the Phipps family), the various Rockefeller trusts, the Kennedy stuff,
etc.

Simply put, I'll happily pay 99.9% income (or whatever) tax...if you let me
write the tax code...

TC,
R