"Sure, but I'd happily take 10% of a billion versus taking home 90% of $40k without shedding too many tears." What does this have to do with anything? Yes, th

"Sure, but I'd happily take 10% of a billion versus taking home 90% of $40k without shedding too many tears." What does this have to do with anything? Yes, there's a difference between marginal rates and overall rates. If people don't understand that as background context then they shouldn't even be in this discussion. The main question to ask is, "How much tax is now being forgone by the trend to lower marginal rates over recent decades?" I don't know the number but it is at least many, many billions annually. Also, there were formerly lots of different tax brackets for the ultra-rich, with only the ultra-ultra-rich reaching highest marginal rate. The question is not whether marginal rates are different from overall rates (which is a given). The question is how much could be gained by creating more brackets at the very top and raising marginal rates on all these top brackets up a bit (though by no means to where they've historically been), because it would make no real difference to the way America's ultra-rich live their lives. In other words, how much could be raised by making our income tax truly progressive again.