re: #143 drcordell

Nowhere did I say that they caused the economic boom. I am merely pointing out that for the entire history of our nation up until the 1980’s the top tax brackets paid well above a 50% tax rate. And the economic growth of our nation was not stifled in any way.

Yet all I hear is people blathering on and on and on about how our economy is going to be crippled by raising tax rates to a fraction of what they were for 200 years. It’s complete and utter horseshit. Without higher tax rates, our government will be bankrupt. It’s as simple as that.

Did you know that for most of the history of this nation, we didn’t even have an income tax? It’s less than a century old. On top of that, for most of the history of the nation, the taxpayer at the 95th percentile paid a small fraction of his income. The very high rates kicked in only for the very few who earned hundreds or thousands of times the median income.

The “top bracket” is of little consequence when it touches only a few movie actors and a couple of industrialists. When your average small business owner is paying about 50 percent, and then when they die the company they built must fold because almost all of its net value is soaked up by estate tax, well, that has consequences for the economy.