Historical tax brackets

[corn18]

Check out 1944 where the top marginal tax bracket was 94%. This chart is in constant 2013 dollars.

http://taxfoundation.org/sites/taxfoundation.org/files/docs/fed_individual_rate_history_adjusted.pdf

[MooseBucks]

Probably will be that soon when President Elect Trump starts WWIII.

[Singuy]

My mind is blown! I can't believe we went from having like 15 tax brackets down to 2 during the Bush years. WOW! I guess Trump's 3 bracket plan can actually be a thing.

[StormRichards]

Probably will be that soon when President Elect Trump starts WWIII.

[phantom]

Wow, I didn't realize tax brackets used to have so much granularity! I never knew exactly what the Regan tax cuts looked like. It's funny how little I know about what happened during the early years of my life: stuff that I was too young to pay attention to as it happened and that ended up being too recent to make it into my history books a few years later.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Look at how much higher it used to be. I wonder if it'll ever hit that again?

[MooseBucks]

Look at how much higher it used to be. I wonder if it'll ever hit that again?

I doubt we are ever going to see 70%+ as long as the donation rules around PACs are still around. The cost to stay in congress is too high to upset your largest donors even it means continuously robbing Peter to pay Paul. Also, many politicians count on getting high paying jobs when they move to the private sector.

[bigdaddybus]

I don't have any issues with Trumps 3 proposed income tax rates.

12%
$0 - 37,500 N/A (single-filer rates)
$0 - 75,000 (married)
25%
$37,500 - 112,500 N/A (single-filer rates)
$75,000 - 225,000 (married)
33%
$112,500+ N/A (single-filer rates)
$225,000+ (married)

[corn18]

Glad to see the discussion on this topic.

What are your thoughts on taxing $1M+ income at 90%?

[Singuy]

Well, I think it's interesting but in the 1950s, 1 million was worth about 10million today.

The tax bracket for a 2016 1million, or 100k in 1950s is at a 38% tax bracket which is actually less than today.

Guess you can make a point that there's really no incentive to make anymore money if additional money you make ends up in the government's hand..but that number starts at about 3 million + in today's money..and eventually you just make more and more without trying.

[james.hendrickson]

Glad to see the discussion on this topic.

What are your thoughts on taxing $1M+ income at 90%?

Tom - that's a guaranteed way to kill growth and stifle innovation. A million bucks wasn't what it was in the 1940s when those schemes were first proposed.

[corn18]

Keep in mind that the tax brackets I posted were based on constant 2013 dollars, not then year dollars, so they have been adjusted for inflation.

[Singuy]

Keep in mind that the tax brackets I posted were based on constant 2013 dollars, not then year dollars, so they have been adjusted for inflation.

oh Wow.


Well I think we should all be glad taxes are as low as they are. Things could be so much worst.

Then again these might be the golden years Trump is referring to as "great"....

[Captain Save]

This tax rate greatly diminished the national debt .. ..the debt is skyrocketing again.. ..what do you think is going to happen to taxes... I feel sorry for people maxing out their 401k .. especially when there's a penalty for withdrwing before 59-1/2 and a RMD for age 70 ...

These laws were not made by accident

[corn18]

This tax rate greatly diminished the national debt .. ..the debt is skyrocketing again.. ..what do you think is going to happen to taxes... I feel sorry for people maxing out their 401k .. especially when there's a penalty for withdrwing before 59-1/2 and a RMD for age 70 ...

These laws were not made by accident

hmmm.... Maybe we should spend less?