https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYFRGDA188S/P>
It’s real. Reagan lowered it down from the top rate of 90’s to 70 ish.
It’s real, but you have to remember there were tons of exemptions, write offs and loopholes back then. It was crazy. Accountants were critical if you made any real money.
I know what it was in 1912...
I seem to remember learning in High School that a
1040 could be filed using a postcard.
Yes it was long long ago in a galaxy far away.
We were still paying for World War II. World War II devoured 45% of the GDP in 1943. The Nazis never put their economy on as much of a wartime footing as the Americans in 1943.
I remember those days. I also remember the idea was to pay off the debt from World War II and the Korean War. It did not work out that way as people making real money, for example, physicians simply stopped working and took long vacations to avoid paying the confiscatory taxes. After all, who wanted to earn 91 cents for Uncle Sam and only 9 cents for himself for every dollar over $200,000.00 he earned.
Ray Stevens has a song about taxes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVyn6mT5RQ8
Notice Ray made this song after taxes were lowered but again going upwards.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYFRGDA188S/P>
$2000/year was a decent wage back then. A house was easily well under $10,000. Being a “millionaire” was incredibly rare.
Loopholes abounded, IIRC. Bottom line, few people ever paid those high rates. Eliminating the high rates made the loopholes insignificant, and everyone more inclined to integrity.
Until President Kennedy lowered it it was 90%.
John Wayne had to make movies like crazy as he was in the top bracket and had alimony and such.
As a Marine, in 1951, I didn’t make enough to have to even be aware of the tax levels left over from WWII...
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”.
It’s not as bad as it looks. There were WAAAY more deductions. You could even deduct interest on credit cards.
I do remember that my Dad, a farmer, referred to the IRS as ‘those robbers.’
He did pay his taxes. He also had a book on the end table by his TV chair, “How to avoid probate”. He and Mom did do that. Set up a trust. Gifted us kids $ over the years, under tax limits, transferred property at low land value times to benefit us all.
Worked diligently all his life. Passed that ‘work ethic’ to us.
Thanks DAD.
I became a Journeyman Union Pipefitter in 1979. We made $16.64/hour on our checks. Claiming single and 0 I would pay aboput $340/week in taxes and take-home pay was about $325.
you’d have to associate the percentage of the population making which salaries to determine if it was accurate (tho i do remember an insane top rate like 90%+ prior to it being dropped by JFK)
that’s before deductions...