ROFLOL.
91% income tax.
So if we used these tax rates and you made 200K per year.....
You kept 18K and the Feds got 182K
Then you owe 7%-15% state tax in most states, which means you owe another 15-30K to the State.
Then there is city tax, which is a few percent, so likely another 5K.
Therefore, using 1951 Federal and Modern State Tax, if you made 200k per year you would owe 235K to State, City, and Federal Taxes. That means your -35K for working. That doesn’t include sales, gas, property taxes, licence taxes, ect. It’s slavery, not taxes.
Reminds me of song from along time ago, “You move 16 tons and what do you get, another day older and deeper in dept”.
Not how tax brackets work. Your first $2,000 was taxed at 20%, and then the rate graduated with the income, each rate is applied only to the marginal income in that bracket. The $150,001 dollar you earned would be taxed at 90% up to the next bracket. Everything you claimed as adjusted gross income over $200,000 was taxed at 91%. As mentioned by others, people utilized tax shelters and tax free investments to get around these taxes. Effective marginal tax rates on income over $200,000 wasn’t half of the actual rate.
In the early 1950’s, when I was in grade school, the folks knew I was good at math so they asked me to check their 1040’s for accuracy. I read those old instruction books cover to cover and came to know all about the 90% top marginal tax rate. I was about ten when that first came to PMO. That convinced me to study it more and learn how to minimize taxes. The first thing that really stuck with me was that the “living expenses” of business was deductible. So for the past seven decades I’ve been a receipt saver, loop hole looker, depreciation freek, always have some form of bizness, and use as many forms as it takes to get the tax rate to zero. NEVER file on line. Make the fedz read the whole pile. If there is a challenge make THEM provide chapter and verse. I didn’t say it was easy but I guess it depends on how hard you work to make a buck and keep it for oneself?