Tax Comparison: Obama vs Reagan, Nixon, Eisenhower

March 13, 2009 03:33 PM EDT

I received this chart, from The Washington Monthly, in an email this morning. I thought I would pass it along in case you have not seen it.

The media has been obsessing about President Obama's plan to roll back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans—from 35% to 39.6%.

But I was surprised to learn that the tax rate the wealthiest Americans paid on the top portion of their earnings at the end of Ronald Reagan's first term was much higher -- 50%.

Under Richard Nixon it was 70%, and under Dwight Eisenhower it was actually 91%.
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