Evidence from leaked account data on how elites use offshore banking [pdf]

Re:Evidence from leaked account data on how elites use offsh... by gzer0 on Sunday May 09, 2021 @12:25AM (#27093230)

Sure, the tax bracket in 1913 might have been 1 million USD (not adjusted for inflation). The highest tax bracket was also paying 67 percent in 1917 and 77 percent in 1918 [1]. During WW2, the tax rate for the highest bracket jumped to a whopping 94% [1]. Most people don't realize how low the rates have gotten compared to previous times. Subsequently, as rates have gotten lower, the income inequality gap is near all-time highs [2].

[1] https://bradfordtaxinstitute.com/Free_Resources/Federal-Inco...

[2] https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-...

Note: I'm not saying correlation = causation; just an interesting phenomenon to notice.

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Re:Evidence from leaked account data on how elites use offsh... by lend000 on Sunday May 09, 2021 @03:27AM (#27093974)

I'm in agreement. But to tax people 67% starting at 400K is ludicrous to me, barring emergency wartime measures (although nowadays the Fed would just print the money and dissolve the value of USD). That 67% rate was for income over TWO MILLION (not inflation adjusted). Using the extremely conservative CPI figure, that's over $25M USD today. Using the median price of a home in the US for inflation, that's nearly $100M. A much more sensible maximum bracket than what we have today.

The point is that the distribution of tax rates is broken, with no statement made about the rates themselves.

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