TAX REFORM

BACKGROUND AND REFERENCE:
"I consider it my patriotic duty to keep Elvis up in the 90 percent tax bracket." —Colonel Thomas A. Parker
(Recall that during the peak of Elvis Presley's career, there really was such a thing as a 90% tax bracket: in fact, it even went up to 94%.)

In 1935, the top tax bracket for an individual taxpayer was 63%. That rate kicked in at $1,000,000 of income (equivalent to over $17.5 million in 2015 dollars). After WWII, upper tier rates were 90% until 1964 when they were reduced to 77%. Top tax rates remained in the 70% range until 1982 when they dropped to 50%. In comparison, for the tax 2013, the top tax bracket was 39.6%, kicking in at over $413,000.

PETITION:
We the People, in order to protect the financial health of our nation and thus ensure continued protection of our individual and collective rights, propose a new tax structure:

A SLIDING tax rate per the current tax schedule, on each individual income. Smoothing out current tax rates and adding upper level brackets, this might look like:

no tax on $0-$10,000
10% on $10,001-$30,000
15% on $30,001-$50,000
20% on $500,001 - $75,000
25% on $75,001 - $150,000
30% on $150,001 - $350,000
35% on $350,001 - $500,000
40% on $500,001 - $1,000,000
45% on $1,000,001 -$10,000,000
50% on $10,000,001 and above

Thus the effective tax rate on one making $40k would be under 9% and the earner would net $36,500 while one earning $1.5 million would be taxed 38.1% overall and would net $928,500.

As income levels rise, marginal propensity to consume tends to drop. This tax program still provides incentive to grow earnings and thrive. Lifestyle still increases with income and this allows lower income persons a better opportunity to care for themselves.