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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (125160)	11/19/2010 6:18:26 PM
From: Freedom Fighter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

>The marginal tax rate on the wealthy was 91%.<< But the number and value of the deductions available were massive. So when you finished doing your taxes, you paid a lower rate than you do now.

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (125160)	11/19/2010 9:09:40 PM
From: GuinnessGuy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

Mike, In 1954 when the 91% rate went into effect, the income needed to trigger than rate had to be in excess of $250,000. Doesn't sound like all that much, but when you convert that to 2008 dollars you get a whooping $3,750,000. Hard to feel sorry for someone who makes that kind of money having to pay so much on anything over that $3,750,000. Along those lines, the max rate we pay now kicked in(in 2008 dollars) at about $187,000 back in 1954. Here's a great source for the above: en.wikipedia.org As an aside, in Bill Bryson's, Thunderbolt Kid, he mentions that Americans never had it so good as they did in one of the years(I forget which one) in the late 1950's in terms of what an average American income could buy. Great book if you were a kid in the 50's and want to travel back and be reminded of all those things we did and had back in the 'good ol' days. My only complaint is that I'm pretty sure that I didn't have beer back then, but that may be another issue. <g> GuinnessGuy