More Brackets And Higher Rates

Tax Policy Center looks at historical tax records and leans toward my policy preference, more brackets with higher marginal rates at the top (h/t the Dish):

If the debate over the original 2010 expiration is any guide, much will center on whether the top rate should increase from 35 percent to the pre-2001 level of 39.6 percent. While these rates will be characterized as being very high, in historical terms they’re actually quite low. Between 1954 and 1963, for example, there were 24 tax brackets (compared to 6 today), and 19 of them were higher than 35 percent. The top rate? A whopping 91 percent. Massive federal deficits and rising income inequality make it worth asking: just how important were those higher rates in raising revenue? To answer to that question, we compiled IRS data on the amount of tax generated at each statutory marginal tax rate, dating back to 1958.
This is what we found: Those high rates really did raise revenue. Although only a small fraction of tax returns were affected by very high rates, the taxes paid at those rates accounted for a substantial portion of individual income taxes paid. Between 1958 and 1986, an average of 14% of individual income tax revenues were generated at rates above 39.6 percent, and an average of 6% of revenues were generated at rates above 50 percent. At their peak in 1986, rates above 39.6 percent accounted for an impressive 23% of income tax revenue.

Why raise taxes a bunch on people making $250,000 to 500,000 a year when you can tax income beyond $1,000,000 per year at 45 or 50%?  Or even better, tax income over $3,000,000 (or $5,000,000) at 60%.  But first, start taxing dividends at ordinary income tax levels.