Friday, December 07, 2012

The Fantasy of a 91% Top Income Tax Rate : A liberal article of faith that confiscatory taxes fed the postwar boom turns out to be an Edsel of an economic idea.

The Wall Street Journal reports:
In 1958, approximately 28,600 filers (0.06% of all taxpayers) earned the $93,168 or more needed to face marginal rates as high as 30%. These Americans—genuinely wealthy by the standards of the day—paid 5.9% of all income taxes. And now? In 2010, 3.9 million taxpayers (2.75% of all taxpayers) were subjected to rates that were 33% or higher. These Americans—many of whom would hardly call themselves wealthy—reported an adjusted gross income of $209,000 or higher, and they paid 49.7% of all income taxes.
A great article by Peter Schiff.