I’ve been thinking about the phrase “Make America Great Again.”
When people hear it, what year pops into their head? Is there a specific calendar year? 1984? 1960? 1957 with a Chevy in the driveway and a pie cooling on the windowsill? (Sunday, Monday, Happy Days…Tuesday, Wednesday, Happy Days…you gotta sing it if you’re my age or older)
Or are we just collectively pointing backward and saying, “Somewhere over there”?
A lot of the imagery attached to the phrase – the memes, the Norman Rockwell aesthetic, the tidy suburbs – seems to orbit around the 1950s. Let’s assume for a moment that’s true. Let’s assume that when people say “great again,” they mean 1950 to 1963-ish. (1963 was a great year – I was born…my twin sister too!)
Now, this isn’t a post about civil rights, gender roles, Cold War anxiety, or who exactly was allowed to enjoy that version of “great.” That’s a different (and longer) post.
This one is about taxes.
Right now, the top marginal federal income tax rate in the United States is 37%.
In 1950, under President Truman, the top marginal rate was 91%.
It stayed at 91% through the administration of Eisenhower and into the early years of JFK. In 1964, after Kennedy’s assassination, it was reduced to 77%.
Ninety-one percent. Interesting.
Now before anyone’s blood pressure spikes, marginal tax rates don’t mean the government took 91% of everything someone earned. It applied only to income above a very high threshold. But still. The rate existed. And it existed during the exact window many people reference when they talk about American greatness.
I am not an economist. Not even close. I’m barely qualified to run my own household budget – I don’t, my wife does (she’s very, very good at it!). I’m certainly not a “social economist” if that’s even a thing.
But here’s the question that keeps rattling around in my head…
If 1950 to 1963 is the model…
If that’s the standard…
If that’s the “great” we want again…
Then wouldn’t consistency suggest we restore the tax structure that existed at the time?
You can’t cherry-pick the nostalgia.
You don’t get the booming post-war infrastructure, the GI Bill expansion, the interstate highway system, and strong middle-class growth without also acknowledging the revenue model that helped fund it.
If we’re serious about going back – all the way back – then that means 91%.
If we’re not serious about that part… then maybe we’re not actually talking about policy. Maybe we’re talking about vibes.
It’s interesting how we remember eras as emotionally simple.
Every decade in hindsight feels cohesive. Neat.
But people living in 1955 didn’t think things were great. Certainly a segment of the population didn’t even come close to thinking things were great (again…another post). They were arguing about politics, worrying about their kids, complaining about prices, and saying, “This country isn’t what it used to be.”
Every generation thinks there was a better “before.”
My motto here is simple: Create an environment that allows success to happen.
If we want national success, that environment includes infrastructure, education, stability, rule of law, and yes…revenue to fund those things then maybe we should be specific.
What policies? What trade-offs? What costs?
Because greatness isn’t a slogan. It’s a structure.
And structures require investment. (It also requires fiscal responsibility but once again…a topic for another post – I’m generating blog ideas each paragraph!)
Anyway, I’m not advocating for a 91% tax rate. I’m not smart enough to know what it should be. I’m “just asking a question” – isn’t that how it’s done on some tv talk shows? “I’m just asking!” (With a shoulder shrug) I’m really just typing into the void again. For the historical record. Not an economist. Just a guy asking whether we mean what we say or whether we just like how it sounds on a hat.
Curious what year you think of when you hear the phrase. And what parts of that year you’d actually keep.
MattMunnell.com 