It's often overlooked that the deal Reagan made to get the lower tax rates was to eliminate all kinds of investment tax shelters. I.e. few were actually paying those rates, the rates were more for show and are not comparable to the tax system today.

There are ways besides cutting their rates, to deal with people who refuse to pay their taxes. Hangings, imprisonment, seizure of property...

And what a surprise - rates today are much lower, yet tax evasion continues to be a problem.

Do they not count as "our children" if they're rich?

A little off topic but if you were well into that top marginal bracket at the time I bet that drop from 90% to 70% felt really good.

Almost nobody was actually paying that rate; those high marginal tax rates only benefited the accountants who could figure out how not to pay, and the politicians who could show how how much money they were pretending to take from the rich.