Top tax rates were above 77 percent for the period 1936–1964, and above 90 percent for about half of that period, mostly in the 1950s under a solidly right of center Republican administration. The top tax rate was brought down to 70 percent in 1965 by a more left-wing Democratic administration, and since then it has drifted down to mid 30 percent. Every Republican administration has tried to cut it down further and every Democratic administration has tried to raise it a little,
