That rate was in principle but hardly anyone paid the top rate and indeed spurred tax avoidance tactics: https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/taxes-on-the

That rate was in principle but hardly anyone paid the top rate and indeed spurred tax avoidance tactics: https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/taxes-on-the-rich-1950s-not-high/ https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/taxes-on-the-rich... So people didn't "quit working" but people earning over 200K (~2MM today) did start looking at ways to avoid having to pay those taxes and the net effect was that the effective tax rate for them was in the mid 40% range (a few points higher than today but by no means much higher).