"Capt. JG" wrote:


You figure Gates worth $65 billion, that's still a pretty good number, one
percent, I'd certainly take it, however, our tax rates have never been nor
had to be that high (well, not until Bush created a deficit from a surplus
maybe).

I think you'll find that the marginal tax on the very rich in the early
60s was about 85%, resulting in an effective rate of nearly 50%. Now
the marginal is something like 35% and the effective rate is less than
15%, zero for some. See http://www.truthandpolitics.org/top-rates.php
(in 1944 it was as 94%!!!!)

Cheers
Marty