Income tax rate 50 years ago →
The income tax rate on the top tax bracket in 1961 in the United States was 91%. You read that correctly. Of course this is a marginal tax rate, so you’d only pay 91% on any money you made over $400,000.* A flat income tax would change this: a flat tax rate could require every American to pay less than 20% of their income and still increase Federal tax revenues.
But the U.S. doesn’t have a flat tax, and unfortunately won’t any time soon. So please consider the marginal income tax rate structure and how it may affect your perception of tax rates. People in the top tax bracket today contribute 35% of any money they make beyond the first $379,150. The Federal government takes no more than $25,000 of the first $100,000 any American makes each year, and this will remain true regardless of upcoming tax reform.
NOTE: remember that wealthier people make much of their money on capital gains, which are taxed at a completely different (recently far lower) rate.
