Cool article by Malcolm Gladwell that doesn't have much to do with taxes but has this nugget:
"Up until the 1960s, the gap between rich and poor in the United States was relatively narrow. In fact, in that era marginal tax rates in the highest income bracket were in excess of 90 percent. For every dollar you made above $250,000, you gave the government 90 cents."
Malcolm Gladwell on Bruce Ratner and the Barclays Center - Grantland