[ameister14]

A lot of people make the marginal taxes prior to Reagan argument but seem to dismiss, either through lack of knowledge or purposeful removal, the fact that prior to Reagan there were an incredible array of tax loopholes that lowered the effective tax rate, regardless of the stated tax rate.

The effective tax rate for the highest earners right now is not all that different than it was from the 50's to the 90's.

The thing that's changed is actually the effective rate on the bottom 50% - those taxes have increased.

[i_haz_rabies]

I'll take your word for it (I'm in the lack of knowledge camp), but I don't see this as an argument for not raising the marginal (and if we do it right, effective) tax rate on the very wealthy.

[ameister14]

It's not. It's a counter to the justification of 'we did it before.' We didn't, not really. If you want to raise the marginal tax rate now, it needs to have its own justification independent of historical marginal rates since it's not an apples to apples comparison.

[i_haz_rabies]

Point taken!