Editing Openai/69585baf-7fb8-8012-907c-372b92368fe6


{{DISPLAYTITLE:US Tax History Impact}}

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== gpt-5-2 ==
=== User: What was the tax rate for corporations and the top 10% of wealth in the US in the past 100 years. ===
What was the tax rate for corporations and the top 10% of wealth in the US in the past 100 years. Which president made the biggest impact or change to the economy with their tax policy

=== Assistant: Here’s a historical overview past 100 years of U.S. ===
Here’s a historical overview (past ~100 years) of U.S. corporate tax rates and top tax rates for the richest taxpayers (often associated with the top 10%/top marginal rate), and a look at which presidents had the biggest impact on tax policy and the economy.

==== 📊 1. U.S. Corporate Tax Rates (Federal) ====

===== Key Points =====
* A federal corporate income tax was first levied in 1909 (about 1%) and expanded significantly over the 20th century. Tax Foundation<ref>{{cite web|title=Tax Foundation|url=https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/historical-corporate-tax-rates-brackets/|publisher=Tax Foundation|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>
* Mid-20th century (1950s–60s): The top statutory federal corporate rate often exceeded 50% (peaking around ~52–53%). Tax Foundation<ref>{{cite web|title=Tax Foundation|url=https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/historical-corporate-tax-rates-brackets/|publisher=Tax Foundation|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>
* 1980s–1990s: Major reductions lowered the top rate to 34% in the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and then to 35% in 1993. LegalClarity<ref>{{cite web|title=LegalClarity|url=https://legalclarity.org/tax-rates-by-president-federal-income-and-corporate-history/|publisher=legalclarity.org|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>
* 2018 onward: The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut the federal corporate rate sharply to a flat 21%. Tax Foundation<ref>{{cite web|title=Tax Foundation|url=https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/historical-corporate-tax-rates-brackets/|publisher=Tax Foundation|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>

Summary Timeline (Approx):

| Era/Policy            | Top Federal Corporate Tax Rate         |
| --------------------- | -------------------------------------- |
| 1909                  | ~1% (initial) 
Encyclopedia Britannica |
| 1930s                 | ~12–14% range 
Encyclopedia Britannica |
| 1950s–60s             | ~50–53% peak 
Tax Foundation
+1        |
| 1986 (Tax Reform Act) | ~34% 
LegalClarity                     |
| 1993–2017             | ~35% 
LegalClarity                     |
| 2018–present          | 21% flat rate 
Tax Foundation          |

💡 Effective vs statutory: Many corporations pay less than the statutory rate due to deductions, credits, and international rules; some large companies have reported effective rates in the teens or even lower. ITEP<ref>{{cite web|title=ITEP|url=https://itep.org/corporate-taxes-before-and-after-the-trump-tax-law/|publisher=itep.org|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>

==== 📈 2. Top Personal Income Tax Rates (“Top 10% / Wealthy”) ====

===== Statutory Top Marginal Rates =====

These represent the highest marginal federal income tax rates for individual taxpayers (often associated with the top 10%/top 1%):
* 1913: First federal income tax introduced; top rate was modest (single-digit levels). Tax Policy Center<ref>{{cite web|title=Tax Policy Center|url=https://taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/historical-highest-marginal-income-tax-rates|publisher=Tax Policy Center|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>
* 1930s–1940s (Great Depression & WWII): Rates jumped — early 1930s top rate ~63% under Hoover, much higher in WWII years, peaking around 94% in 1944–45. Tax Policy Center<ref>{{cite web|title=Tax Policy Center|url=https://taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/historical-highest-marginal-income-tax-rates|publisher=Tax Policy Center|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>
* 1950s–1960s: Top marginal rates stayed above 90% until the early 1960s, then lowered to ~70% by mid-1960s. Wikipedia<ref>{{cite web|title=Wikipedia|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_taxation_in_the_United_States|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>
* 1980s (Reagan era): Major reductions brought top rates down, eventually to ~28% by the late 1980s. Wikipedia<ref>{{cite web|title=Wikipedia|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_taxation_in_the_United_States|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>
* 1990s–2000s: Top rate increased under Clinton to ~39.6% (1993–2000), then adjusted to ~35–39.6% in the 2000s. LegalClarity<ref>{{cite web|title=LegalClarity|url=https://legalclarity.org/tax-rates-by-president-federal-income-and-corporate-history/|publisher=legalclarity.org|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>
* 2018–present: Top statutory rate is ~37% (current federal rate since TCJA). LegalClarity<ref>{{cite web|title=LegalClarity|url=https://legalclarity.org/tax-rates-by-president-federal-income-and-corporate-history/|publisher=legalclarity.org|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>

📌 Important Distinction:
* Marginal rate = highest rate on the last dollars earned.
* Effective rate (what most wealthy actually pay after deductions/credits) is typically lower. Reddit<ref>{{cite web|title=Reddit|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/charts/comments/1oyv9f6/effective_tax_rates_by_income_since_1950/|publisher=reddit.com|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>

==== 🧮 3. What About the “Top 10%” Specifically? ====

The official statutory top marginal rate applies to the very highest brackets and is often used as a proxy for how “rich” taxpayers are taxed. While the IRS doesn’t set a public yearly “top 10% rate,” historically:
* When statutory top rates were high (e.g., >90% in 1940s–50s), most of the top 10% earned far less than that threshold, so their effective rates were significantly lower. Wikipedia<ref>{{cite web|title=Wikipedia|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_taxation_in_the_United_States|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>
* Today’s top bracket (~37%) broadly captures much of the true top 1% and very high earners — though the effective tax rate for the top 10% as a group is typically lower because many forms of income are taxed differently (capital gains vs ordinary income). Econometrics Laboratory<ref>{{cite web|title=Econometrics Laboratory|url=https://eml.berkeley.edu/~saez/course/Labortaxes/taxableincome/taxableincome_attach.pdf|publisher=Econometrics Laboratory|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>

==== 🧠 4. Major Presidential Tax Policymakers (and Impacts) ====

While Congress technically sets tax law, presidential leadership shapes direction. Here are presidents widely considered to have made large impacts on tax policy and the economy:

===== ⭐ Franklin D. Roosevelt (1930s–40s) =====
* Greatly expanded income tax and brought the U.S. into a heavily progressive tax system — highest rates above 90% to fund WWII and social programs. Tax Policy Center<ref>{{cite web|title=Tax Policy Center|url=https://taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/historical-highest-marginal-income-tax-rates|publisher=Tax Policy Center|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>

===== ⭐ Lyndon B. Johnson (1964) =====
* Revenue Act of 1964 reduced top marginal rate (from ~91% to ~70%) and started lowering corporate taxes modestly. Wikipedia<ref>{{cite web|title=Wikipedia|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenue_Act_of_1964|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>

===== ⭐ Ronald Reagan (1981–1988) =====
* Major shift toward lower tax rates: top marginal income tax cut dramatically and corporate tax lowered through the Tax Reform Act of 1986, simplifying brackets. LegalClarity<ref>{{cite web|title=LegalClarity|url=https://legalclarity.org/tax-rates-by-president-federal-income-and-corporate-history/|publisher=legalclarity.org|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>

===== ⭐ Bill Clinton (1993) =====
* Increased the top marginal income rate to ~39.6% and raised the corporate rate to ~35%. Investopedia<ref>{{cite web|title=Investopedia|url=https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/tax-reform-act-of-1993.asp|publisher=investopedia.com|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>

===== ⭐ Donald Trump (2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) =====
* Lowered federal corporate tax rate from ~35% to 21%, and reduced some individual tax brackets. This change had one of the largest statutory corporate tax rate impacts in decades. Tax Policy Center<ref>{{cite web|title=Tax Policy Center|url=https://taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-did-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act-change-business-taxes|publisher=Tax Policy Center|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>

==== 📌 Who Made the Biggest Economic Impact via Tax Policy? ====

This depends on how you judge “impact”:

| President | Major Tax Action                                            | Economic Impact Lens                                |
| --------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- |
| FDR       | Created modern progressive tax structure; wartime financing | Largest expansion in fiscal taxation history        |
| Reagan    | Deep cuts to marginal and corporate rates                   | Major shift toward supply-side tax policy           |
| Trump     | Sharp corporate tax cut (21% rate)                          | Most recent large statutory corporate tax reduction |
| Johnson   | Significant mid-century rate cut                            | Marked long-term gearing down from postwar highs    |

👉 Most economists view FDR and Reagan as the two presidents whose tax policies most reshaped the U.S. tax structure over the past century — FDR by building the high-rate, progressive system and Reagan by dramatically shrinking rates and simplifying the code. Wikipedia<ref>{{cite web|title=Wikipedia|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_taxation_in_the_United_States|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref>

==== 📉 Summary (Simplified) ====

| Category                     | 1920s   | 1950s | 1980s   | 2000s     | 2018–Present           |
| ---------------------------- | ------- | ----- | ------- | --------- | ---------------------- |
| Top Corporate Rate           | ~10–14% | ~50%  | ~34%    | ~35%      | 21% 
Tax Foundation    |
| Top Marginal Individual Rate | ~7–25%  | >90%  | ~28–50% | ~35–39.6% | 37% 
Tax Policy Center |

If you want, I can also provide a visual timeline graph or a table of effective vs statutory rates over time to see how much these translated into actual tax burdens on the top 10% or top 1%.

== References ==
<references />


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