[cascom]

A couple of thoughts:

1) I think that the redistributionist view of taxation is still quite controversial (at least in the US)

2) I think redistribution via taxation is exceedingly unpopular if you are paying for it (I.e. people are all for other people paying more, but not themselves)

3) while marginal tax rates were higher previously, a) the highest marginal tax brackets were as high as $100m in today’s dollars, and 2) effective tax rates were not massively different (can’t find a source here, but recall seeing data on this) through avoidance/deductions etc. such that tax collected per dollar of income actually hasn’t changed much.