I wish the author had shown their work regarding the mother's after-tax income. They apparently assume a 22% effective tax rate, but that seems unrealistically

I wish the author had shown their work regarding the mother's after-tax income. They apparently assume a 22% effective tax rate, but that seems unrealistically high. The SSA says that Social Security tax was a mere 1% before 1950, and would remain below 4% until the 1970s. [1] A 1949 Form 1040 [2] suggests that a single filer with 3 dependent children, earning $2700 that year, would have a federal income tax liability of only $7. Not 7 percent, 7 dollars. [1] https://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/taxRates.html https://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/taxRates.html [2] https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f1040--1949.pdf https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f1040--1949.pdf