Graph: Historical Marginal Tax Rate for Highest and Lowest Income Earners

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Historical_Marginal_...

Honestly kinda worthless without knowing the average marginal rate that people in each income brackets payed. People always hype up the 90% tax bracket but tax deductions and credits were so plentiful that the raw rates are very misleading.

A reminder that comparing old tax rates with modern ones is very hard, since there was a huge amount of deductions available for the high income earners, and hardly anyone actually paid anywhere near the nominal 91%.

I don't understand why we don't just not tax income below say $20k. It can't be a lot of money for the government even in aggregate, and it would make a huge difference in low income people's lives, arguably larger than any of the government programs their taxes are going to fund.

I'd love to see these state-wise as well. Looking at the highest ever federal rate and adding my current california rate would put the total marginal rate at 103%.

It's actually kind of amusing to think about what a marginal rate over 100% would lead to. If the top bracket is $1M+ and you earn $100M, and that last $99M is taxed at 102%, then you owe roughly $101M of your $100M earned, leaving you negative for the year. Better not go above the max! Quick! Donate that $99M in order to maximize your earnings!

Interesting. I think it would be more impactful/meaningful if it also had columns for inflation adjustment, income distribution, and average effective tax rate.

It seems like when it first started, it only taxed the rich and at a very low rate. Then it expanded from there, to the point where 20% was the min and 91% was the max. Then lower to what we have now.

Ok, now do the effective rates paid.

Better yet, do overall tax burden rather than just income tax.

Everyone loves to get a good ideological circle jerk going over the nominal 1950s rates but the actual tax burden at (various different points on the income spectrum) paints a very, very, different picture.

1950 Tax Rate - 91.0% > $400,000

The economy overall grew by 37% during the 1950s. At the end of the decade, the median American family had 30% more purchasing power than at the beginning. Inflation was minimal, in part because of Eisenhower's efforts to balance the federal budget.

Unemployment remained low, about 4.5%.

The raw rate tells you something but not everything. What are the available deductions? What counts as income?

Now adjust those 1990 numbers for inflation

In 1944 the Federal income tax rate was as high as 94% for those making more than $200,000.