Eventually it was always the wars constantly waged that couldnt be supported by the revenues generated that led to decline of empires such as the Roman empire, british empire etc. History has a tendency to repeat itself.
Here is some Info. Saids average income in 1950 was $3216. So 50k is 15 times the average. That would equate to about $450k today. So if you made $450k today you would pay around the same in % in taxes, depending on which state you live in. http://www.fiftiesweb.com/pop/prices-1950.htm http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/guidance/SMI75FY09.pdf
Using of inflation rate of 4% (which is the long term average over the period). $49K in 1953 = $441,000 in 2009. Taxes of $21K represented a 43% tax rate in 1953. If you live in NYC today and make the equivalent $441K , your tax rate is above 50% (including federal, state, and local). No way in hell were tax rates lower in 1953, then. No wonder they were getting buy OK. the government was stealing less.
Dammit. I don't know how the hell my post got so garbled. "getting buy"? I'm just tired and I was concentrating on getting the calculations right. Sorry about that. But, you get the gist.
Yes they were... actually they were REALLY HIGH. Until Ray-gun and Art Laffer. go to http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/151.html it will surprise you. There were a lot more tax brackets then.. If you made 49K then, the top bracket for dollars made between 44K and 50K was 71%! The money made below was taxed less... but not as less as you might think - go to the link above.