What you have to understand is that when the top rates were that high most of the "rich" still didn't actually pay at that rate. Precisely because the rates were so high there were also all kinds of tax loopholes, deductions, and tax shelters written into the tax code available so people could use them as write offs and deductions in order hide much more of their incomes then they currently are able to do. In essence when the rates were that broad people lowered their real rates paid by taking advantage of all the tax shelters. When the tax rates were lowered the tax codes were simplified at the same time. So it really isn't as simplistic as you make it sound, and the differences are not as glaring as you probably assume them to be.