I agree, but I would be more careful in throwing out that the highest marginal rate has historically been 90% or more. You're likely to scare people, unless yo

I agree, but I would be more careful in throwing out that the highest marginal rate has historically been 90% or more. You're likely to scare people, unless you clarify that the income brackets were also much different. Today the highest rate kicks in at $225k for individuals, roughly double for couples. But the fact is that, although highest rate used to be much higher, historically the brackets were also created so that the highest rates affected only a small number of people (i.e., the very, very rich). E.g., after adjusting for inflation the highest income bracket back in the 1930's was income above $75,000,000/year. For most of the last century the highest bracket started only for those making above $2M (in adjusted dollars), or roughly ten times above where highest bracket starts now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_States#History_of_top_rates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_State...