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Comment by entropicdrifter

12 days ago

>You're describe an age where the government was a wash with surplus dollars.

Hey, good point. We should really bring back that 90% top tax bracket rate to get the government back to being financially solvent again.

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entropicdrifter

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rapatel0  11 days ago

In the 20s-40s (pre-ww2), tax revenue was ~2% of GDP. It is currently >20% of GDP

It's a spending problem. You're anchoring on a talking point with out actually running numbers.

Don't believe me, run the numbers yourself.

  • myrmidon  11 days ago

    I think your 2% number is extremely misleading.

    From what I can see, taxation as GDP percentage was never really under 10% since 1950, while big cuts to the top tax rate happened in the 60s and 80s (and the federal budget was continuously in the red since mid 70s basically, with one brief exception before 2000).

    • rapatel0  11 days ago

      OP was specifically talking about the 20s, 30s, 40s but just to add a complete picture.

      Just to add some empiricism to the conversation

      Fiscal Year Tariffs/Customs Individual Income Corporate Income Top Marginal Rate Receipts (% GDP)

      -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      1928 14.0% (approx) DNF DNF 25.0% DNF

      1935 8.4% 14.6% 14.7% 63.0% 5.1%

      1940 6.1% 13.6% 18.3% 81.1% 6.7%

      1944 0.9% 45.0% 33.9% 94.0% 20.5%

      1952 1.2% (approx) 42.2% 32.1% 92.0% 19.0%

      1960 1.3% (approx) 42.0% 23.0% 91.0% 17.8%

      1970 1.1% (approx) 46.0% 18.0% 71.8% 17.9%

      1980 0.8% (approx) 47.0% 12.0% 70.0% 18.9%

      1990 1.3% (approx) 45.0% 9.0% 28.0% 17.8%

      2000 1.1% (approx) 49.0% 11.0% 39.6% 20.0%

      2010 1.2% (approx) 41.0% 9.0% 35.0% 14.6%

      2015 1.3% (approx) 47.0% 10.0% 39.6% 17.6%

      2019 2.0% (approx) 50.0% 7.0% 37.0% 16.3%

      -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      DNF=Did not find

      - Tariffs fell from ≈14% of receipts in 1928 to <1% by WWII -> income taxes replaced trade duties.

      - Individual income taxes overtook all other sources after 1943

      - Corporate shares peaked during war mobilization (~⅓ of revenue in 1944–52).

      - Top marginal tax rate was surprisingly not too corrilated to government revenue.

      (REALLY wish HN did basic markdown formatting)

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