I was curious of the historic tax rates for the wealthy, or at least the highest levels of taxation.  Some of the rate jumps seems arbitrary, others are simply explained by WWI and WWII.  But the jumps before our entry seem to be harbingers of our path.

1913            500,000 7.0%
1916         2,000,000 15.0%
1917         2,000,000 67.0%
1918         1,000,000 77.0%
1919         1,000,000 73.0%
1922            200,000 58.0%
1924            500,000 46.0%
1925            100,000 25.0%
1932         1,000,000 63.0%
1936         5,000,000 79.0%
1941         5,000,000 81.0%
1942            200,000 88.0%
1944            200,000 94.0%
1946            200,000 91.0%
1949            400,000 91.0%
1952            400,000 92.0%
1954            400,000 91.0%
1964            400,000 77.0%
1965            200,000 70.0%
1977            203,200 70.0%
1979            215,400 70.0%
1982               85,600 50.0%
1983            109,400 50.0%
1984            162,400 50.0%
1985            169,020 50.0%
1986            175,250 50.0%
1987               90,000 38.5%
1988               29,750 28.0%

In the 1990’s the rates returned to the 30% plus and the levels fluctuated there until the tax code was rewritten to lower the top rates to the 20% levels.

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