History of Tax Hikes, Tax Cuts Since 1992
With people arguing whether our tax rates are hurting or helping the wealthy, let's take a look at the historical figures. To me, it seems people always think in short-term outlooks, not long-term.
1993 saw a tax hike on the wealthy (via two new brackets at the top), and then 2001 through 2003 saw a series of tax cuts that lowered the tax brackets as follows:
| 1992 | 1993 - 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 - 2007 |
| 15% | 15% | 15% | 10% | 10% |
| 15% | 15% | |||
| 28% | 28% | 27.5% | 27% | 25% |
| 31% | 31% | 30.5% | 30% | 28% |
| 36% | 35.5% | 35% | 33% | |
| 39.6% | 39.1% | 38.6% | 35% |
From 2000 to 2002 most brackets dropped by one percent, and there was a new low bracket added for the "lucky duckies" at the very bottom.
In 2003 most brackets got an additional cut of two percent with a special gift for the "other" lucky duckies, the ones at the top. But note that the rich still paid more in 2003, and everybody else paid less, than was the case in 1992.
Now if we could just balance the budget...
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