[quote=AN][quote=SK in CV]Interesting point. At the height of the cold war (from 1950 to 1963), when Joseph McCarthy was looking for a communist under every bed, the top tax rate WAS over 90%. Turns out it didn’t make everyone poor. It was a pretty good period of growth, particularly for the middle class.[/quote]
So, what you’re saying is war = good period of growth and 90% tax rate = good period of growth. How come we’re not seeing great period of growth since we have 2 wars? Is it because we don’t have 90% tax rate?[/quote]
No, thats nothing at all like what I said. The allusion was made to 90% top tax rate being related to communism. And I pointed out the irony of that observation, in that during the height of the red scare, we had rates like that.
Initiating wars does tend to improve the economy. Winding them down, which we’ve been doing for the last few years, has the opposite effect. That’s not a recommendation to start a new war, just an observation.
But I could make a pretty strong argument that increasing the top tax rate, particuarly on businesses, would be good for the economy, but not to 90%. Somewhere between 50 and 60% would help. Higher top tax rates encourage businesses to spend money when the government pays for half of it.
