Do Higher Income Tax Rates Produce Lower Unemployment? History Says They Do!

April 18, 2012

By: D. DiFrancesco

Out of my own curiosity, I decided to look at the relationship between the top income tax rates by year and the annual unemployment rate.  My conclusions are based on the years 1950 through 2011.  I would also like to state that I am neither an accountant nor an economist so the statements I am making are my personal opinion based on what I see in the numbers.

The figures used for my conclusions were derived from two sources, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Tax Policy Center.

In the process of doing this analysis I learned some things which I found pretty fascinating...

• The top tax rate during the 61  years being reviewed  occurred in 1953 with a rate of 92% and ironically, the annual unemployment rate was the lowest of any of the years sampled at 2.93%.

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Obama Confronts Republicans for Covertly Promoting Social Darwinism on the Backs of the Poor

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis)

During a speech today at an Associated Press luncheon, President Barack Obama finally called the House budget plan supported by Mitt Romney and a vast majority of Republicans exactly what it is, “social darwinism”.

This budget, proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis) and passed by the house on a primarily partisan 228 -191 vote will be disastrous for the middle class, the poor, and the elderly and the Republicans don’t seem to care in the least.

This budget will lower the tax rates by eliminating the six tax brackets in favor of two, one at 10% and the upper level at 25% down from 35% for the wealthiest Americans.  In addition, this budget aims to slow the growth of the federal deficit at the expense of social programs that help the poor and elderly.

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