[Hoot Gibson]

What were the tax rates from 1940-1950, 1950-1960, 1960-1970, 1970-1980, 1980-1990, 1990-2000, 2000-2010, 2010-2020?

You will find this great talking point from the right that tax is evil and wrong and yet most people want to make America Great Again, referring to the 1950s and some of the 1960s... yet when we look at that time period. You will find higher tax rates, and one out of three were union members. Compare that to now!

The economies of Europe and Japan were decimated by World War II. The U.S. economy had little competition during the 40s and 50s. Had JFK not wisely slashed income tax rates as the European and Japanese came roaring back, this country would have been crippled by the competition.

You must ignore a great deal of history to make such an idiotic case for sky high tax rates being a good thing. The quality of German and Japanese cars caught up and eclipsed that of the so-called Big 3 American auto companies beginning in the late 60s and the combination of higher tax rates, more stringent government regulation, high wage rates, and poor quality almost destroyed our automotive industry.

Ironically, it was an American statistician, Dr. W. Edwards Deming, who the Japanese credit for revolutionizing manufacturing processes with the introduction of statistical process control methods at companies like Toyota. Eventually, the Big 3 began listening to Deming as well, but only after they had fallen far behind the Japanese in quality products.

Answer the question of why Democrats slashed federal income tax rates in the early 60s if high marginal taxes were responsible for the good economic times of the period from 1940 through the early 1960s? Your argument defies logic and the historical record.