AdamT
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That's true but 'marginal' is not effective. The only credible data that I have found reveals that since 1979 the effective individual Federal Income tax rate has held relatively unchanged, between 19.8 and 23.0%, at least to 2005.
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/98xx/doc9884/12-23-EffectiveTaxRates_Letter.pdf
So that shows that over all effective tax rates fell about 2%, which is not inconsiderable, but not huge, either. Notice, however, that the very wealthiest people have seen about an 11% drop, versus around 4% for most of everyone else.
[EDIT: there is something wrong in those CBO numbers. The difference in total federal tax rate from 79 to 05 is listed at 1.7%, but if you look at each subcategory, every single one shows a drop greater than -- and most considerably greater than -- 1.7%.]
I think it's more relevant, though, to look at tax revenue as a percentage of GDP. You can see that it rose 5%, very gradually, from about 1950 to 2000, and then it essentially fell off a cliff, dropping 5% in just 10 years. Tax Revenue as a Fraction of GDP | Department of Numbers
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