A History Of The Top Tax Rates In The United States

Posted on the 04 October 2017 by Jobsanger


Donald Trump, and his Republican congressional friends, think taxes are too high in this country -- especially for the rich and corporations (the only entities affected by the top tax rate). I think we need to know what we are talking about before this new tax cut gets started in Congress.
So, I made the charts above. The top chart shows the top tax rate in every election year from 1920 to 2016. Note that in most years the rate has been significantly higher than it currently is, and the economy worked just fine during those years. The second chart shows the amount of income over which the top tax rate applies.
Don't get me wrong. I think a tax cut could be good for the economy and job creation, but only if it's a tax cut for the middle and working classes. Cutting taxes for the rich and the corporations will not help the economy. It will just fatten the bank accounts of the rich and corporations.