$200,000 in 1976 equals $700,000 today

Quote by Alex Brill

“In constant dollar terms, $200,000 in 1976 dollars is equivalent to $708,612 in 2006…President Obama has drawn much attention to the $200,000 threshold. In the Treasury Department’s description of the President’s most recent tax and budget proposals, they describe the proposal to raise the statutory marginal rate for singles earning over $200,000 (couples earning over $250,000), reinstate the phase-out of itemized deductions for singles earning over $200,000 (couples earning over $250,000), reinstate the personal exemption phase-out and raise the capital gains and dividends tax rate to 20 percent for these same taxpayers…While it may seem odd that Congress chose not to index their 1976 definition of high income to inflation, recall that at the time nothing in the entire income tax code was inflation-indexed. That change did not occur until The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. What certainly seems surprising is that President Obama seems not to have indexed his definition of high income since 1976 either.”


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