
U.S. federal individual income tax rates history, 1913-2011 - shrikant
http://qntm.org/tax
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ebaysucks
Are these figures inflation adjusted?

Tax bracket creep is a big effect that can't be ignored.

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ArchD
Informative as they are, the graphs don't show the complete information. For
example, they don't show the effects of various deductions and other ways the
actual tax for individuals can be reduced, and they don't show the treatment
of capital gain, so for example, you can't draw a conclusion about any period
of time being more tax-heavy than another.

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rsanchez1
I don't know, to me it looked like taxes were higher during war years. The
graph shows taxes dropping between WW1 and WW2, remaining elevated throughout
the Cold War and increasing when the US participated in armed conflict, and
then going down the last two decades. At least that's the general trend I saw
in the graph.

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bediger
I'm surprised that the "progressiveness" is so slight. Not much knee to the
curve for low-income folks.

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brlewis
The baseline is taxable income, which is calculated after exemptions and
deductions. Those exemptions and deductions make a much larger difference at
the low end than the tax rate. We really aren't seeing what's happening at the
low end in this graphic.

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Codayus
Yes, the largest problem with the graphs is that so much work is being done by
the phrase "taxable income".

Imagine Joe Example makes $500,000 per year, and faces an average tax rate of
80%, but through various quirks of the tax code he can deduct $400,000. He
pays $20,000 in taxes on his $100,000 in "taxable income". Next year a tax
reform bill is passed; his tax rate drops to 40%, but deductions are
completely removed. He now pays $200,000 in taxes. In other words, his tax
rate halves, but the tax he pays increases by 1000%.

Deductions matter! The headline rate is, frankly, one of the less important
variables in how a tax system works.

(A smaller problem with these graphs is that it only shows income tax. That's
only one of many taxes, and for the rich and poor, it's often not the most
important one. Payroll, capital gains, and dividends matter too! As do sales
taxes, property taxes, and even corporate taxes...)

