Thread by @dcpetterson

In the 1950's, the top marginal income tax rate was over 90%.

No millionaire EVER said, "I don't think I"ll bother to make another million dollars, because my taxes are too high." Not. One. Ever.

In the 1950's, the corporate income tax rate was over 50%.

No corporate CEO EVER said, "I don't think I"ll bother to reinvest in my company, because corporate taxes are too high." Not. One. Ever.

In the 1950's, the estate tax rate (inheritance tax) on multi-million-dollar estates was almost 80%.

No rich family EVER said, "I don't think I'll bother to amass a bunch of money to pass on to my kids because inheritance taxes are too high." Not. One. Ever.

In the 1970's, the capital gains rate peaked at about 40%.

No investor EVER said, "I don't think I'll bother to invest in new businesses because capital gains taxes are too high." Not. One. Ever.

Right-wingers like to argue that no one ever paid those high rates, because there were all sorts of tax deductions they could take to lower their income on paper and put them in lower tax brackets--so we might as well have lower tax rates anyway. BUT WHAT THEY DON'T TELL YOU...

.. is that those "tax deductions" were used to force morbidly wealthy people to use their riches for things America needed. They got deductions for paying good wages, for giving healthcare to their workers, for making charitable contributions to food shelves, and so on.

In other words, they got tax deductions for doing things that the taxes would have done if they didn't take the tax deductions.

If you simply lower the tax rates, morbidly rich people just pocket the money and use it to increase wealth disparity between the rich and the poor.

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