Monday, January 27, 2014

It's the Revenue to the Federal Government, Stupid

Over the past 60 years or so, the top marginal tax rate in the country has been as high as 91% and as low as 28%, and as you can plainly see from these I.R.S. stats, there is a strong INVERSE correlation between the top marginal rate and the amount of tax revenue per person (indexed for inflation) provided to the government. I mean, I know that we want the rich to pay their "fair share" and all but isn't it more about funding the government, for Christ?

11 comments:

BB-Idaho said...

The chart shows clearly that the very wealthy should pay no taxes at all.

dmarks said...

I believe that taxation should be as behavior-neutral as possible. And should most definitely not be used to destroy anyone, nor should it be used for ill-conceived (i.e. arrogant, fascist-tinged) social engineering.

Is this belief so radical?

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

BB, just like there's a point of diminishing returns in raising taxes, I'm sure that there's probably one in cutting them, too. My suspicion is that it's probably in the 25-30% range.......Nope, dmarks, that's not even remotely radical.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

And look at the individual points on the graph. In 1954 the top rate was 91% and the government got $2,600 per tax-payer. In 1964 it was 77% and the government still got $2,600 per taxpayer. But in 1984 when the government lowered the top rate to 50% the average amount per taxpayer mushroomed all the way to $5,700!! Lower marginal rates on the top wage earners leads to much more economic growth and much more revenue to the government. Everybody in the world should be happy but alas they are not.

Jerry Critter said...

Good economic growth results in more government income at a lower tax rate. You have shown nothing that indicates that the lower tax rates caused the economic growth. In fact, a strong case can be made that tax cuts do not cause economic growth">.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

There are no controlled experiments in economics, Jerry, but if the correlation had been the other way you guys would be touting it. And it's a common sensical thing, for God's sake. You tax something and you generally get less of it. I mean, look what happened in Sweden during the '70s and '80s. They raised the top rates to 85% and thousands of rich people left the damn country and the debt to GDP ratio went to a staggeringly high 80%.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

And when Truman raised the top rate 152%, look what happened then.

Jerry Critter said...

In fact I have touted it. Studies of the last 60 to 80 years show that the optimum top tax rate for optimum GDP growth is in the 55% to 65% range.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

That's absurd, Jerry, and I know how the leftists operate. They include public GDP (the likes of which you get when you engage in radical government spending), which of course rises the overall GDP level. Like during the Depression and WW2, for example, yes we had some solid overall GDP growth, but when you disaggregate the public and private GDP you see that the private sector was actually not growing and in certain years retracting!

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

And the data is the data, Jerry; $2,600 per person when the rates were 77% and 91% and $5,700 when they were reduced to 50%. Torture it all you want but the facts are the facts.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

I mean, I could make GDP go through the roof. Line up hundreds of thousands of people and have them dig holes and fill them in all day. Boom, GDP.