There were no wealthy people or entrepreneurs from the 40s through the 70s

[jpgray]

This is clearly the case, because income tax on the top bracket never dipped below 70%, peaking at 94% and averaging around 81%. This must have been the worst time for working families in history, as nobody would bother to work hard at anything, start a business to create jobs, or otherwise grow the economy given the stultifying upper tax bracket. What a narrow escape we had with the coming of Reagan!

[bluestateguy]

1. What about John Wayne?

Or Howard Hughes?

[county worker]

2. I was born in 1946 and I sat around waiting for the Reagan tax cut before I did anything

constructive.

:sarcasm:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

3. ..

:applause:

[trotsky]

4. Thank you.

:thumbsup:

[Silver Swan]

5. I was just looking at my 1972 tax return.

I dug it out to respond to some Repug on another forum.

My former spouse and I paid more income tax for 1972 than my current spouse and I paid for 2008. (Since we are retired, our income is not great, but it was nearly 2.5 times what we earned in 1972.)

[aikoaiko]

9. yes but....

The Inflation Calculator

What cost $100 in 1972 would cost $490.53 in 2007.
Also, if you were to buy exactly the same products
in 2007 and 1972, they would cost you $100 and $20.29,
respectively.

[Hannah Bell]

32. did you adjust for inflation? cause in inflation-adjusted terms, i made more

in '79 as a clerk-typist than i currently make as a credentialed dietitian.

[treestar]

6. That's a good thing to point out - I've just been getting the

"lack of incentive if the government helps" meme from the right.

I also want to look up the statistic to the effect that most welfare recipients are temporary. Right wing idiots always go from the assumption that all who are on it stay there from generations. Since Rush told them this, they believe it.

[hootinholler]

20. Boy howdy! Do they ever!

They drive Cadillacs too!

-Hoot

[SmileyRose]

24. It just makes me sick

they pull up to publix in a customized Escalade or a Lexus to buy cases of ribeye steaks with food stamps and have the cashier ring up the cases of expensive wine on a separate bill. You should see all the bling they are wearing. I know for a fact none of these people ever applied themselves in school and never worked a day in their lives. In the meantime I'm working my ass off and can't hardly afford a bag of apples.

[hootinholler]

34. Have I run into you on another board?

That line o crap is nearly verbatim what I hear there regularly, and there's no educating those who spout it.

-Hoot

[SmileyRose]

35. UM

I honestly didn't think I needed this given the whole thread is more or less :sarcasm: - including your post that I replied to..........



on second thought maybe you were teasing me and I'm the bonehead who stepped outside the funhouse. Sorry if I thought you were chastising me but in truth was only kidding back............

[hootinholler]

36. I knew you were being sarcastic...

I was trying to let you know how accurate your take on what I actually hear regularly over there is.

-Hoot

[Canuckistanian]

7. And since nobody was rich, they didn't hire anyone either

Nobody was employed from the 40s to the 70s.

I guess my folks were different.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

8. K&fuckingR

[DrDan]

10. I always thought Raygun should have portrayed Jesus during his acting years

he could, after all, walk on water with no camera trickery.

[Stinky The Clown]

11. Well said

knr

[Greyhound]

12. K&R

[trackfan]

13. I was just in a bar watching Fox News, and gathered the same thing.

I .vomit.out. that channel.

That feels better now.

[SIMPLYB1980]

14. Didn't you know it was pure communism then and everyone got

paid the same with the redistribution. Their were no famous or rich people back then. Everything was in Black and White and they had to walk backwards up hill both ways in the snow. :sarcasm:

Great OP.:thumbsup:

[Hello_Kitty]

15. Funny you should mention.

The highest period of growth coincided with the highest marginal tax rate.

[One_Life_To_Give]

16. But the income required for it was much higher

Some of those top marginal tax rates didn't cut in till 200,000 during WW2. Or enough to buy 20 houses, probably furnish them all and throw a giant block party. 90% on anything over $10,000,000.00 wouldn't slow much investment/entrtepreneurship.

[jpgray]

19. Plus there were different and widely varying loopholes, exemptions, etc., over this period

The above is definitely a simplification. I doubt, however, we will see a top bracket (by any definition) taxed at a similar rate in the foreseeable future. Many if not all the arguments against it are completely bunk, but they have a lot of bizarre force amongst those who are not at all rich. It reminds me of the poor yeoman farmer who supported slavery.

[SoCalDem]

25. and during the 70's you did not have to itemize to get some deductions

we got a renter's deduction, and we could deduct interest too..

[One_Life_To_Give]

26. Curious what the Effective Rates came out to

Average household today vs average household then and comparison of not just tax rates but what that money would buy. Didn't think the average house cost 5yrs pay years ago.

[nichomachus]

17. Higher taxes actually spur the economy

When taxes are higher, businesses and individuals want to shelter income from the tax man. So, they invest the money in the business, or they start new businesses, or they hire more people. That way, they don't have to pay tax on the money they use to do that.

When the rich aren't taxes, they have no incentive to use their money in that way -- and they just tuck it into their sock drawer or they dump it into hedge funds and stuff like that.

[Yavin4]

27. Exactly.

In fact, it's an incentive to cut costs further, as each marginal dollar saved is taxed less and less.

Hence, wage stagnation, outsourcing, and declining health care benefits.

[ogneopasno]

18. Clearly, it's the fault of the unions, because that's when they had their heyday! Thank God Reagan

came in and shut that sit down!

[newtothegame]

22. Not to rain on the post...

but can you imagine having 94% of what you earned chopped out before you even see the paycheck? Why don't we just spend what we're already paying MORE WISELY?

[bread_and_roses]

28. er...that was on the highest brackets....not ordinary wage-earners

as you would realize with a few moments thought, I'm sure, as you will recall that "middle class" meant a family was living reasonably well on ONE income. However, I assume a reflexive and one hopes vestigial neural path worn to a groove by near forty years of free-marketeer, neo-con propaganda kicked into play when you saw the word "taxes." You'll have to work on that.

[newtothegame]

29. You're right...we're spending just fine...what'd we drop, another $100b for Iraq and Afghanistan

today?

A little less time desperately searching for trolls, a little more time articulating original thoughts, and we'll make a good poster out of you yet.

[bread_and_roses]

39. My target is free-marketeers, not trolls. If I misinterpreted you, I'll be happy to apologize

We've had plenty of free-marketeers who are not trolls here over the years, though their ranks seem diminished lately, or at least somewhat quieted. I don't take kindly to free-marketeers, and admit it openly. If I misinterpreted you, I'll be happy to know that. And bye-the-bye, I've been here a good while, and whether or not you or anyone else thinks I'm a "good poster" is a matter of utter indifference to me. I come here for amusement and to refresh my brain from work.

[FiveGoodMen]

38. "Let me tell you how it will be. It's one for you nineteen for me."

The Beatles were getting taxed at a 95% rate.

And they were very poor.

[ret5hd]

45. wrong:

the first $5000 they made was taxed at the exact same rate as the first $5000 anybody else made.

their second $5000 was taxed at the exact same rate anybody elses second $5000 was taxed.

same as today, the higher percentages are only applied to the amount of income OVER and ABOVE the lower tax brackets.

[catzies]

21. B-b-b-but...Eisenhower!

:rofl:

[ThomWV]

23. They were busy getting rich building the Interstates which weren't Government stimlus either.

Huh?

[AzDar]

30. Ayup.

:thumbsup:

[valerief]

31. Kick this baby up!

:kick:

[trof]

33. Yeah, it was the pits.

And I got a sex change operation just so I could be a Welfare Queen.
:rofl:

[Uncle Joe]

37. It's true, back then, everybody sold dirt for a living, until Reagen came along

and gave the wealthy a much needed break, so they could pass on the Golden Shower of trickle down economics to the rest of America.

That's why today, we sing that old time classic, "Urine The Money!"

Thanks for the thread, jpgray.:thumbsup:

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

40. wouldn't taxing the highest incomes discourage the salary

disparity? I'm thinking that high rates on the top incomes would level out the salaries, so that managers, directors and executives wouldn't make 400 x's the average worker.

[leveymg]

41. I worked on the Floor of the NYSE when the Dow was 850. Believe me, nobody was poor there.

That was the mid-1970s. Everything about Reagan was a lie that served to make the rich richer.

[Laelth]

42. I should have had a v8!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_18xktH6Eobk/R0zMROtSPII/AAAAAAAAByk/ophbLIdJ6jc/s400/Stupid+White+Guy.jpg

:dem:

-Laelth

[cascadiance]

43. Sending people to the moon was clearly an aberration...

We were just lucky that this happened around that time... We would have beaten the Russians into orbit had we not had that taxation happening...

[ElboRuum]

44. Clearly...

Because the only reason to do anything is to get all the money in the world and stick it in your ears (paraphrasing Eddie Izzard).