In the US, 1950-1980 is the era of lowest wealth inequality in the countries history. The top tax rate reached 91% in that time period. It is currently around 37%. Us poors had it worse before then, and have it worse after then. They won a birth lottery. Source: Thomas Piketty’s ‘Capital in the 21st Century’
Do you have a source for that? I found this source that is citing data from the congressional budget office. SOURCE (I followed the link and did confirm the numbers match). I made a quick plot so it was easier to see trends. Nothing stands out to me about 1983 - there’s a small dip and then a course correction back towards the upwards trajectory, but this data tells us nothin about wealth inequality. We can’t use total values because of inflation and such , probably have to use revenue as a %GDP or something but I’m too lazy too keep searching at the moment :) My immediate thought looking at the plot is this: If the total tax rev kept going up, and the top tax rate was cut, then the increased tax burden must have shifted to the poorer classes; I’d have to verify but it seems like a logical conclusion.
In the US, 1950-1980 is the era of lowest wealth inequality in the countries history. The top tax rate reached 91% in that time period. It is currently around 37%. Us poors had it worse before then, and have it worse after then. They won a birth lottery. Source: Thomas Piketty’s ‘Capital in the 21st Century’
Cutting the top tax rate in 1983 actually increased tax revenue. A 91% rate is too high and encourages tax avoidance and evasion
And now that it’s lower the billionaires are happy to pay their fair share and society is better off for it. /s
They have reduced it since then never recreating the same results which is likelya larger factor
yrdf
Do you have a source for that? I found this source that is citing data from the congressional budget office. SOURCE (I followed the link and did confirm the numbers match). I made a quick plot so it was easier to see trends. Nothing stands out to me about 1983 - there’s a small dip and then a course correction back towards the upwards trajectory, but this data tells us nothin about wealth inequality. We can’t use total values because of inflation and such , probably have to use revenue as a %GDP or something but I’m too lazy too keep searching at the moment :) My immediate thought looking at the plot is this: If the total tax rev kept going up, and the top tax rate was cut, then the increased tax burden must have shifted to the poorer classes; I’d have to verify but it seems like a logical conclusion.
Yeah, your graph is a good source. Tax revenue growth steadily increases starting at 1983