From Ike to Obama: What Wealthy Earners Pay in Taxes
Newch91
Posts: 17,560
If I remember correctly from my US history class in high school, we had economic prosperity and a strong middle class from the 1940s-1960s/1970s and the 1990s. I wonder why?
http://news.yahoo.com/eisenhower-obama- ... -news.html
Ever since revealing his approximate tax rate last week, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has taken heat from rivals and critics over what he said he pays on income derived mostly from capital gains, "probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything." Today, he released his tax returns, showing that he paid an even lower rate of less than 14 percent in 2010. Historically, tax rates on capital gains have not been so low since the Great Depression.
Under President George W. Bush, the maximum capital gains tax rate was 15.35 percent. The highest capital gains tax rate in U.S. history was put in place under Woodrow Wilson's presidency during World War I, when it was as high as 73 percent, according to Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center.
"A substantial portion of his income is probably not taxed at all," Williams said before Romney released his tax returns Tuesday and revealed that he paid a 13.9 percent tax rate. "His taxable income is certain to be below his total income."
Romney's tax plan would extend the 15 percent capital gains tax rate for the highest income earners, while cutting it entirely for people who earn less than $200,000 in additional annual income from sources other than capital gains.
Fellow Republican candidate Newt Gingrich, too, proposes a tax plan to maintain the 15 percent tax rate. The only difference is Gingrich wants to make this tax optional for all Americans as a permanent flat tax.
But thanks to itemized deductions, Williams thinks under Gingrich's plan, "Romney would be paying virtually nothing."
The highest rate for regular marginal income tax in the twentieth century was instated under Franklin D. Roosevelt toward the end of World War II at 94 percent. A marginal income tax of over 90 percent for top earners lasted well beyond the end of the war.
Read on to find out how long top earners paid a marginal income tax rate for the highest income bracket of 90 percent or more, according to historical tax data from the Tax Policy Center.
Figures represent the rates in place at the beginning and ending year of each presidency.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income over $400,000: 92% - 91%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 25%
During the administration of Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a 92 percent marginal income tax rate for top earners in the United States remained from the previous administration of Harry S. Truman. At the time, the highest tax bracket was for income over $400,000.
This was nearly the highest tax rate for top earners in the century, just under the 94 percent rate for income over $200,000 instated during World War II under Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency.
In 1954, the 92 percent marginal rate decreased to 91 percent under Eisenhower. The maximum tax on long-term capital gains was 25 percent -- a rate that remained in place for a decade.
John F. Kennedy
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income over $400,000: 91%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 25%
At the beginning of his presidency, John F. Kennedy inherited a tax policy with a 25 percent maximum rate on long-term capital gains and a regular income tax rate of 91 percent – nearly the highest income tax in the century.
There were no changes to these tax policies during his presidency.
Lyndon B. Johnson
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income: Over $400,000: 91% - Over $200,000: 75.25%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 25% - 26.9%
The marginal tax rate on the highest regular income bracket fell below 90 percent for the first time in 20 years in 1964 – the first year of Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency.
This decrease put the tax rate at 77 percent for income over $400,000. By the end of Johnson's administration, the tax rate fell by 1.75 percentage points, but the threshold for income in the highest tax bracket also fell to $200,000.
This meant that more people were faced with the maximum regular income tax rate of 75.25 percent.
The capital gains tax rate began to rise during Johnson's presidency in a climb that would peak in the mid-70s.
Richard M. Nixon
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income over $200,000: 77% - 70%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 27.5% - 36.5%
During the Nixon years, the regular tax rate for the highest income bracket decreased back to its level during Johnson's first year in office, and the capital gains rate continued to increase.
By the end of Richard M. Nixon's presidency, the capital gains rate rose by nine percentage points.
Mitt Romney's father, George W. Romney, campaigned for the Republican presidential nomination in 1967 and released his tax returns, "in a move believed without precedent in American politics," according to an article that year in the St. Joseph Gazette, a newspaper in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Romney Sr.'s tax returns showed that he made $2,972,923.58 over the previous year, and the total taxes he paid were $1,099,555.18, according to the St. Joseph Gazette.
In today's release of his tax returns, Romney Jr. revealed that he paid $3 million on total earnings of $21 million in 2010.
Gerald R. Ford
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income over 200,000: 70%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 36.5% - 39.875%
Ford instated no change to the regular tax rate, but the capital gains maximum tax rate rose to 39.875 percent - its highest levels since the 1950s.
The capital gains tax rate has not been that high since.
Jimmy Carter
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income over $203,200 - $215,400: 70%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 39.875% - 28%
Under Jimmy Carter, the income threshold for the highest tax bracket increased by $12,200.
The capital gains tax rate began its decline that would continue through today.
Ronald Reagan
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income: over $215,400: 69.125% - over $29,750: 28%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 20% - 28%
Under Reagan, maximum regular income tax rates decreased from nearly 70 percent to 28 percent, but these rates applied to lower income levels. The earlier rate applied to income over $215,400, while the later rate applied to people with income over $30,950.
In the mid-years of the Reagan administration, the regular income threshold for taxation at the maximum rate initially dropped to $85,600 in 1982, but by 1986 rose to $175,250.
The capital gains tax rate under Reagan started at 20 percent. By the time he left office, the capital gains rate had risen to the 28 percent rate that was in place at the end of the Carter administration.
George H.W. Bush
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income: Over $30,950: 28% - Over $86,500: 31%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 28% - 28.93%
After his famed promise of "no new taxes," the maximum tax rates under George H.W. Bush increased for both regular income and capital gains.
However, as during the Ford, Carter, and mid-Reagan administration, the level of regular income that was taxed the maximum rate would increase from $30,950 to $86,500, causing fewer people to face that tax.
The capital gains rate would not decrease again until the Clinton administration, and the maximum regular income tax rate would not decrease again until George W. Bush entered office in 2001.
Bill Clinton
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income: over $250,000: 39.6% - over $288,350: 39.6%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 29.19% - 21.19%
During the Clinton administration, the maximum regular income tax rate stayed the same for the highest earners, but the income level taxed at this rate increased by $47,350.
The maximum capital gains tax decreased by eight percentage points.
George W. Bush
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income: Over $297,350: 39.1% - Over $357,700: 35%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 21.17% - 15.35%
George W. Bush decreased the regular marginal income tax rate for top earners by over four percentage points during his presidency, while increasing the income level for the highest tax bracket $60,350.
In addition, the highest capital gains tax rate fell near to its current rate of 15 percent.
Barack Obama
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income: over $372,950 - over 388,350: 35%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 15%
The Bush tax cuts have remained through the Obama administration, with a 35 percent marginal income tax for the top income bracket and a 15 percent capital gains income tax. However, unless Congress acts by the end of this year, the 2001, 2003 and 2006 tax cuts will expire at the end of December 2012.
Again, the level of income necessary to face the maximum marginal income tax increased from 2009 to 2012.
http://news.yahoo.com/eisenhower-obama- ... -news.html
Ever since revealing his approximate tax rate last week, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has taken heat from rivals and critics over what he said he pays on income derived mostly from capital gains, "probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything." Today, he released his tax returns, showing that he paid an even lower rate of less than 14 percent in 2010. Historically, tax rates on capital gains have not been so low since the Great Depression.
Under President George W. Bush, the maximum capital gains tax rate was 15.35 percent. The highest capital gains tax rate in U.S. history was put in place under Woodrow Wilson's presidency during World War I, when it was as high as 73 percent, according to Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center.
"A substantial portion of his income is probably not taxed at all," Williams said before Romney released his tax returns Tuesday and revealed that he paid a 13.9 percent tax rate. "His taxable income is certain to be below his total income."
Romney's tax plan would extend the 15 percent capital gains tax rate for the highest income earners, while cutting it entirely for people who earn less than $200,000 in additional annual income from sources other than capital gains.
Fellow Republican candidate Newt Gingrich, too, proposes a tax plan to maintain the 15 percent tax rate. The only difference is Gingrich wants to make this tax optional for all Americans as a permanent flat tax.
But thanks to itemized deductions, Williams thinks under Gingrich's plan, "Romney would be paying virtually nothing."
The highest rate for regular marginal income tax in the twentieth century was instated under Franklin D. Roosevelt toward the end of World War II at 94 percent. A marginal income tax of over 90 percent for top earners lasted well beyond the end of the war.
Read on to find out how long top earners paid a marginal income tax rate for the highest income bracket of 90 percent or more, according to historical tax data from the Tax Policy Center.
Figures represent the rates in place at the beginning and ending year of each presidency.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income over $400,000: 92% - 91%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 25%
During the administration of Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a 92 percent marginal income tax rate for top earners in the United States remained from the previous administration of Harry S. Truman. At the time, the highest tax bracket was for income over $400,000.
This was nearly the highest tax rate for top earners in the century, just under the 94 percent rate for income over $200,000 instated during World War II under Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency.
In 1954, the 92 percent marginal rate decreased to 91 percent under Eisenhower. The maximum tax on long-term capital gains was 25 percent -- a rate that remained in place for a decade.
John F. Kennedy
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income over $400,000: 91%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 25%
At the beginning of his presidency, John F. Kennedy inherited a tax policy with a 25 percent maximum rate on long-term capital gains and a regular income tax rate of 91 percent – nearly the highest income tax in the century.
There were no changes to these tax policies during his presidency.
Lyndon B. Johnson
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income: Over $400,000: 91% - Over $200,000: 75.25%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 25% - 26.9%
The marginal tax rate on the highest regular income bracket fell below 90 percent for the first time in 20 years in 1964 – the first year of Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency.
This decrease put the tax rate at 77 percent for income over $400,000. By the end of Johnson's administration, the tax rate fell by 1.75 percentage points, but the threshold for income in the highest tax bracket also fell to $200,000.
This meant that more people were faced with the maximum regular income tax rate of 75.25 percent.
The capital gains tax rate began to rise during Johnson's presidency in a climb that would peak in the mid-70s.
Richard M. Nixon
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income over $200,000: 77% - 70%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 27.5% - 36.5%
During the Nixon years, the regular tax rate for the highest income bracket decreased back to its level during Johnson's first year in office, and the capital gains rate continued to increase.
By the end of Richard M. Nixon's presidency, the capital gains rate rose by nine percentage points.
Mitt Romney's father, George W. Romney, campaigned for the Republican presidential nomination in 1967 and released his tax returns, "in a move believed without precedent in American politics," according to an article that year in the St. Joseph Gazette, a newspaper in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Romney Sr.'s tax returns showed that he made $2,972,923.58 over the previous year, and the total taxes he paid were $1,099,555.18, according to the St. Joseph Gazette.
In today's release of his tax returns, Romney Jr. revealed that he paid $3 million on total earnings of $21 million in 2010.
Gerald R. Ford
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income over 200,000: 70%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 36.5% - 39.875%
Ford instated no change to the regular tax rate, but the capital gains maximum tax rate rose to 39.875 percent - its highest levels since the 1950s.
The capital gains tax rate has not been that high since.
Jimmy Carter
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income over $203,200 - $215,400: 70%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 39.875% - 28%
Under Jimmy Carter, the income threshold for the highest tax bracket increased by $12,200.
The capital gains tax rate began its decline that would continue through today.
Ronald Reagan
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income: over $215,400: 69.125% - over $29,750: 28%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 20% - 28%
Under Reagan, maximum regular income tax rates decreased from nearly 70 percent to 28 percent, but these rates applied to lower income levels. The earlier rate applied to income over $215,400, while the later rate applied to people with income over $30,950.
In the mid-years of the Reagan administration, the regular income threshold for taxation at the maximum rate initially dropped to $85,600 in 1982, but by 1986 rose to $175,250.
The capital gains tax rate under Reagan started at 20 percent. By the time he left office, the capital gains rate had risen to the 28 percent rate that was in place at the end of the Carter administration.
George H.W. Bush
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income: Over $30,950: 28% - Over $86,500: 31%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 28% - 28.93%
After his famed promise of "no new taxes," the maximum tax rates under George H.W. Bush increased for both regular income and capital gains.
However, as during the Ford, Carter, and mid-Reagan administration, the level of regular income that was taxed the maximum rate would increase from $30,950 to $86,500, causing fewer people to face that tax.
The capital gains rate would not decrease again until the Clinton administration, and the maximum regular income tax rate would not decrease again until George W. Bush entered office in 2001.
Bill Clinton
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income: over $250,000: 39.6% - over $288,350: 39.6%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 29.19% - 21.19%
During the Clinton administration, the maximum regular income tax rate stayed the same for the highest earners, but the income level taxed at this rate increased by $47,350.
The maximum capital gains tax decreased by eight percentage points.
George W. Bush
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income: Over $297,350: 39.1% - Over $357,700: 35%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 21.17% - 15.35%
George W. Bush decreased the regular marginal income tax rate for top earners by over four percentage points during his presidency, while increasing the income level for the highest tax bracket $60,350.
In addition, the highest capital gains tax rate fell near to its current rate of 15 percent.
Barack Obama
Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income: over $372,950 - over 388,350: 35%
Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 15%
The Bush tax cuts have remained through the Obama administration, with a 35 percent marginal income tax for the top income bracket and a 15 percent capital gains income tax. However, unless Congress acts by the end of this year, the 2001, 2003 and 2006 tax cuts will expire at the end of December 2012.
Again, the level of income necessary to face the maximum marginal income tax increased from 2009 to 2012.
Shows: 6.27.08 Hartford, CT/5.15.10 Hartford, CT/6.18.2011 Hartford, CT (EV Solo)/10.19.13 Brooklyn/10.25.13 Hartford
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
I guess it doesn't surprise me to much though. I doubt there isn't 1 person on the train that isn't a complete hypocrite.
I don't have a problem with a politician playing the Jesus card. It's just that some who proclaim to be very Christian don't act like it and whose positions are opposite of what his teachings were.
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
Why is it okay for everyone else except him? Isn't that supposedly what the public wants? Regardless, I didn't say it was okay; I said I agree with hs assessment.
Yourself included, of course.
back when tax rates were highest it was roughly almost identical percent to GDP as we have now.
Can anyone honestly look me in the face and tell me that ~2.2 trillion dollars paid into the federal government alone isn't enough?
that is like 7,500 a person to spend...that seems like it should be enough.
if you are looking to make the economy work for everyone by raising taxes, you are looking at the wrong end of the horse to try and make it go
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
Of course. But I'm willing to admit it. But F it, it's Friday and I'm going to stat over in a better mood.
Once the Rich are taxed at a "fair share" (hahahaha) level, and the problems don't go away, who will be the next scapegoat?
I heard Obama's religious reasoning behind higher taxes for the rich yesterday. I agree in principle, but who says the rich should be giving their money to our gigantic, bloated government? I prefer to be able to give it directly to the people who need it rather than have most of it going to some giant bureaucracy and a small portion actually doing some good. I don't think higher taxes and government waste is what Jesus was saying there.
The problem is government spending and waste.....
The problem is government spending and waste.....
The problem is government spending and waste.....
The problem is government spending and waste.....
The problem is government spending and waste.....
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Jesus talked about a rich man's chances of getting into heaven...I don't think he was referring to forcing the rich man to give more of his income away...I think he was talking about the rich man feeling like he should be compelled to give it away through the goodness of their heart. Teaching them about charity...that they cannot take it with them. I agree with all of that.
I could be wrong though about my recollection of Jesus...
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
I thought the same thing. If a Republican quoted the bible as justification for his tax policies, people would be in an uproar.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Romney paid $3MM last year
Buffet paid about $7MM last year
The average American would have to pay their normal share for 600 years to equal what Romney paid last year. 1400 years to equal Buffets 2010 taxes.
The real problem is that the tax code is too complex. Strip it down. Make it so people can actually know what they are paying in taxes as a total. Take away tax loopholes that are only taken advantage of by people with a lot of $.
Adding a NEW law that requires a minimum % of tax to be paid is pretty crazy. Just make is simple. The complexity of the tax code is a major part of the problem.
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
to succeed. **
*An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had
never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an
entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and
that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great
equalizer. *
*The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on
Obama's plan". All grades will be averaged and everyone will
receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A....
(substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all). *
*After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. * *The second test average was a D! No one was happy. *
*
*
*When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. *
*As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. *
*To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because **when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. * *It could not be any simpler than that. (Please pass this on) *
*
*
*Remember, there IS a test coming up. The 2012 elections. * *These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment: *
*1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. *
*2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. *
*3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. *
*4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it! *
*5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation. *
The real question is WHY do you agree that closing loopholes for the rich is a good idea?
What's in it for you? Why are you interested in having more money from someone else go to a government that only WASTES MONEY? If it doesn't affect you, then it seems almost that you're doing it for spite.
Anytime ANYONE gets out of paying money to the government I see it as a good thing.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
It's very difficult to argue with the logic here.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
govt takes in more money when the rate is lower.
You can see here again in the CBO graph below that the capital gains tax rate and amount of tax revenue have an inverse relationship, as the rate goes up revenues go down and vice versa.
OVER
WOOT
that is what I have been saying for a long time...and increase in any tax does not automatically equal higher revenue.
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
I'm not an economist, but I play one on AMT. Therefore, isn't what's being charted in the two graphs boom and bust cycles, and then sticking lines over the top in an attempted to say the correlation is causation?
:-)
I said what I think of graphs before. not always a great measure.
But i can tell you that an increase in tax rates does not necessarily result in an increase in revenue. If you have low capital gains realizations, you can tax 100% of them and get less than if higher returns are being realized and only tax them at 75%. The lull then spike that occurs after a drop in rates is certainly predictable however...Money made on capital gains is generally money that has already been taxed at an income rate unless you are lucky or skilled enough to live off of capital gains only. I don't really care that it is taxed twice, but it shouldn't be taxed at the same rate both times.
If you don't revamp the entire tax code and just fluctuate rates, all you ever do is appease masses and still allow those that know how to game the system a way out of paying more.
again...can you honestly tell me that ~ 2.2 to 2.5 trillion is not enough?
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan