[joe__f]

Oh, you are correct I did miss the point thank you. It would be great to have correct data on how much taxes are actually paid in practise during this period. (And, to increase funding for regulatory bodies to close tax loopholes)

[robertlagrant]

If your own point is that it's good to have historical evidence before we annihilate the motivation of anyone trying anything particularly risky in the name of creating a better product or service, then is closing those loopholes and raising tax to 90% the best idea? It's child's play to think of what would happen if we spent more money on cleaning buses, for example, but what won't be invented or improved if we do this? What's the downside?

[jojojaf]

I'm not advocating any specific high-end wealth tax rate, but I think at the moment they are very low. I think it would be interesting and relevant to future policy making to have historical data about which such tax rates have worked in the past. Wealth inequality is currently a huge problem in the world, and as far as I can see any kind of arguments against tackling it such as 'we'll miss out on innovation' are capitalist propaganda. This is why it would be good to have accurate historical data to respond to these kind of arguments.

I've reread my post that you responded to and when OP says 'tax rates are meaningless signaling to low income voters because no one pays these rates', my response is 'taxes should be better enforced so that people do indeed pay the stated rates'.