In 1935, Franklin D. Roosevelt raised the top rate to 79 percent, from 63 percent, and raised the income level that qualified for that rate to $5 million (about $75 million today) from $1 million. As the economist Bruce Bartlett has noted, that 79 percent rate apparently applied to only one person in the entire country, John D. Rockefeller.
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David Leonhardt - Richly Undeserved When reading about historical tax rates, I often forget to account for inflation. I thought today’s debates over progressive taxes were interesting. Imagine the debates when a tax rate targets a single individual. |
