War and Taxes: 94% Tax-Rate from 1944 to 1945 on Income over $200,000!

Aside from the Mexican-American War, the Iraq conflict is the only war that our nation has not been asked to financially sacrifice anything. I believe it is the only war in which our government made sure part of our citizenry intentionally received pecuniary benefit on top of not being asked to forfeit monetarily.

George W. Bush, with the help of Karl Rove understands the only way a nation will tolerate war is if the majority of its people truly believe in the cause, or if its people are spared the reality to the point where the citizens that “count” are flourishing, and many of them to the point of opulence. Of course, the citizens that do not "count" are worse off than they have been in a very long time, especially when compared with that small segment of our population referred to as the "hyper-rich".

Abraham Lincoln introduced an income tax up to as much as 70% on its most affluent citizens to offset the cost of the civil war. The top tax-rate was 77% in 1918 to help pay for World War I. Tax-rates hit an all-time high of 94% on income of $200,000 and above in 1944 in order to pay down the cost of WWII. Unbelievably, the tax-rate remained extremely high until 1964 when it was lowered to 77%. The early 1950s saw an increase in individual and corporate rates due to financing needs of the Korean War. The Vietnam War raised the tax-rate once again in the form of a surcharge.

We cannot put all the blame on George W. Bush because without the support of the American public, President Bush could not have gotten away with creating a war, based on lies, paying for it with borrowed money, meanwhile producing a segment of our population that gives new meaning to the word "wealthy", the likes of which has never been seen before in this country. Let's face it, most Americans only want to hear "tax-cuts", no matter what the situation and without understanding who those "tax-cuts" reward.