Invented by Arthur Laffer, the "Laffer Curve" shows the relationship between tax rates and tax revenue collected by governments. The chart below shows the Laffer Curve:
The curve suggests that, as taxes increase from low levels, tax revenue collected by the government also increases. It also shows that tax rates increasing after a certain point (T*) would cause people not to work as hard or not at all, thereby reducing tax revenue. Eventually, if tax rates reached 100% (the far right of the curve), then all people would choose not to work because everything they earned would go to the government.
This curve also suggests that as more money in taxes is taken from the wealth producers, less money is available to grow the economy through new innovations and capitol investments. Wealth in the hands of the individual is like gasoline in the tank of a taxi. The more gasoline in the tank, the further the taxi can go to make profits. The more profits, the more taxis can be purchased to make more profits and, of course, to purchase more gasoline.
This hatred of the wealthy on a national level began with William Jennings Bryan, the leader of the Progressive movement, combining his moral crusade against atheism and secularism with an even more vigorous crusade against Big Business. This movement reached its ultimate consequence with the election of Theodore Roosevelt. It is ironic that this champion of Progressivism was a Republican. Republicans in the past have licked the boots of our nation's enemies in order to gain power.