Robert Parry: Cutting Taxes on The Rich. How Do We Return to Fairness?

It is curious that the American Right, which waxes nostalgic for the happier days of the 1950's when the United States was "supposedly" more moral and more united, ignores one of the central reasons behind that middle-class era: Very High Taxes on the Rich Granted, some on the "Right" may love the Fifties because it was a time of racial segregation and second-class status for women, but what arguably made the era work was the fact that the US tax structure "disincentivi -vized" greed by ensuring that excess wealth was mostly recycled back into the Treasury for use in building the nation and supporting research and development. During Dwight Eisenhower's presidency, the top marginal tax rate, what the richest Americans paid on their top tranche of income, was about 90 percent. In the 1960's, under John F. Kennedy, that was lowered to around 70 percent, but that rate still meant the rich had a limited incentive to be greedy, since they would not get to keep most of their extra money. All that changed with Ronald Reagan's presidency, and his slashing of the top marginal tax rate by more than half, before it was adjusted upward slightly, late in Reagan's years and then during Bill Clinton's presidency, before being reduced again to 35 percent under George W. Bush.