Top Marginal Income Tax Rates & Real Economic Growth, a Bar Chart

by Mike Kimel

Top Marginal Income Tax Rates & Real Economic Growth, a Bar Chart
Cross posted at the Presimetrics blog.

The chart below shows tax rates on one axis and the growth rates in real GDP that accompanied those tax rates on the other:

I broke the tax ranges into 5 percentage point increments centered around intuitive numbers (30%, 35%, etc.). Growth rates are the median observed for each range. For ranges which did not occur in the real world, growth rates are left blank.

Top marginal tax rates come from the IRS’ Statistics of Income Historical Table 23, and are available going back to 1913. Real GDP can be obtained from the BEA’s National Income and Product Accounts Table 1.1.6, and dates back to 1929. Thus, the graph uses data starting in 1929.

Consider this post a quick follow up to my previous post on optimal tax rates that appeared at the Presimetrics blog and Angry Bear blogs. There will be a lot more follow-ups, but it occurs to me that a look a the data might be useful before going on.