Eliminating Tax Loopholes That Benefit Corporations And Wealthy Individuals
At first the income tax applied only to the 1% of top earners and was very small with a top bracket of 7%, but under the pressure of the First World War the highest bracket leaped to 77%. In the 20’s the wealthy fought the tax on two fronts: first they pressured Congress to lower the highest rates and push the tax down to capture revenue from the well off non-rich; second, they went on a “tax strike” involving tax avoidance and downright tax evasion. Despite big tax cuts passed by Congress in 1921, 1924 and 1926, the number of tax returns filed by the wealthiest dropped to 50% of the 1916 leve...