Last week, Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, proposed lowering the top income tax rate on corporations and individuals to 25%, offsetting the revenue loss by tightening deductions and credits.

Now Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill) has introduced legislation to raise income tax rates on taxpayers whose incomes are more than $1 million per year.  If it passes, the rate on $1mm incomes would increase to 45%, rising as income rises to a maximum of 49% on incomes of more than $1 billion.

Rep. Schakowsky's proposal is, in one way, reminiscent of the rates under the first income tax law.  In 1913, the income tax applied only to high earning individuals, rising to as much as 7% of incomes greater than $500,000.  To put that in perspective, in 1913, Oregon passed one of the first minimum wage laws - $8.64 per week for a 50 hour week.