[simonh]

The smartest people in the most productive professions are above average earners. How is taxing them into the ground going to attract them?

[Jeff_Brown]

Taxing them into the ground would indeed be a bad idea. It's a question of levels. Tax rates in the 20th century for 55 years were above 50%, and for 45 of those were above 70%[1]. You get a lot more for being in the US than a certain tax rate.

[1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Historical_Marginal_...