found online by Raymond
From Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger:
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) has proposed adding a top tax rate of 70% that would only apply to income of over $10 million. Republicans are aghast about her proposal. They claim it would invite economic disaster. Of course they are wrong. This nation has had a top marginal tax rate of 70% or more for many years of the 20th Century (see chart above) — and the economy did quite well.
Her proposal actually makes good economic sense — especially in our current situation (with the government registering trillion dollar a year deficits and a rapidly ballooning national debt).
This is politically unrealistic, but also politically suicidal for Democrats who aren’t in totally safe districts and states. I’m not sure that we can afford this in the age of Trump.
Besides that, there’s more to the story than what this article presents, including:
1.) That 90% tax rate of yore did not translate to a 90% effective rate, but instead to around 42%.
2.) Other countries’ tax rates make a difference in terms of competition.
3.) A majority of Americans would probably find the idea that “[t]he optimal tax rate on people with very high incomes is the rate that raises the maximum possible revenue” to be very troubling.
One doesn’t have to agree with Republican policy or ignore the concept of diminishing marginal utility to have a problem with Ocasio-Cortez and her proposal.