When President Roosevelt passed the Wealth Tax of 1935 in order to appease the progressives, liberals, and followers of Long's "every man a king" ideology, he felt obligated to hold the rich to strict taxing so as to redistribute the wealth and help the Depression. The Wealth Tax called for a tax of up to nearly 80% on the most elite members of the country, and Rockefeller Jr. was no exception.
In fact, he has so exorbitantly rich, and so much richer than the other elites, making $5 million a year, that Roosevelt had to make him his own tax bracket. Taxed 79% of his yearly income, Rockefeller was barely retaining any of the money he made proportionally, but he made so much that he still led a wealthy life compared to most.
In the chart above, Rockefeller Jr. is the only person in the final column. However, despite being taxed so highly and being the only one in such high a bracket, Rockefeller Jr. showed no bitterness at all and never complained. He neither wrote nor requested any editorials about a "class war", he didn't claim to be unfairly singled out, and, most important of all, he always paid his taxes.
http://ideas.time.com/2012/09/18/the-rich-havent-always-hated-taxes/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/15/top-marginal-tax-rates-chart_n_849596.html
http://visualizingeconomics.com/blog/2011/04/14/top-marginal-tax-rates-1916-2010
https://www.forbes.com/2009/03/19/taxes-bailouts-class-opinions-columnists-warfare.html#6b0aa20b705a
http://www.worldhistory.biz/modern-history/81729-revenue-act-of-1935.html
Neat. I very much like how you discussed his opinion, or lack of it, on the subject of his taxes. Being taxed so much would certainly anger many, but not him. A suggestion I would give you is to possible go further into detail on why he was so quiet about it. Perhaps it was his upbringing, or something else. Wikipedia is not always credible, but perhaps you can look there first.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller_Jr.
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ReplyDeleteI definitely think that it is extremely interesting that the president would create a separate tax bracket for only one person. Also, I am quite surprised that Rockefeller was content with the exorbitant tax rates, although there was probably nothing he could have done. What I do wonder is how much money he already had, and how long this tax went on for. If it was only during the war years, it probably would not have been hugely important to him. However, if it was for the majority of his life I would be really surprised that he never complained.
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