Another inconvenient truth for the DUmmies--that 90-plus percent marginal rate they so dearly love only kicked in at an equivalent of about $4-5 million in today's dollars. And as SB noted, 50 years (hell, 25!) there were an almost infinitely greater number of deductions, shelters, and other ways of "hiding" one's income that virtually NOBODY hit that limit.
Consider this--the AMT (alternative minimum tax) was created in 1969 to hit 155 people. That's it. 155 people. Today, almost 30 MILLION people are affected by it, because the AMT was never indexed for inflation.
You piss, whine, and moan about how "unfair" the system is, when in reality the people who SHOULD be bitching are people like, well, ME. Not rich enough to hide my money in shelters, triple-tax-free municipal bonds, or simply cash out, but not poor enough to take advantage of the redistribution system put in place over the past 50 years, which has exploded in the last 20 (think EIC, etc.)
Enough already--you wouldn't know fair if it sat on your face and wiggled.