The only sure things in life for Americans are death and taxes. And since the World War III can was kicked past April 15, Americans of a certain age are forced to reckon with at least one of life’s inevitables this month. 

If you’re a President Donald Trump voter, you may be wondering why your taxes aren’t great. Sure, you may be paying less than you did in 2015, but that wasn’t exactly a great time. The recent past was so bad that a guy who never held public office needed to hold the highest office, right? Based on that logic and catchphrase, it’s time taxes should be great. Again. 

When was America great? Though a portion of Trump voters may think the leader of the free world is referring to the halcyon days of President Ronald Reagan’s 1980s shining city on a hill, that’s not correct since the Gipper himself used the “Let’s Make American Great Again” motto during his 1980 presidential campaign. 

Once again, when was America great? Since we know it pre-dates 1980, let’s examine when Reagan might have thought things were great. 

It’s unlikely Reagan was referring to the Great Depression (1929-1939), which was a great depression. He was also probably not referring to the administrations of Democratic presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy or Lyndon Johnson, standard bearers of the opposition party. (Although, to be fair, Reagan was a Democrat until 1962, when he left the party for the GOP.)

The administration of President Richard M. Nixon was tainted by Watergate, and Reagan ran unsuccessfully in 1976 against Nixon’s successor, Gerald Ford, so let’s assume those years are out, too. He went on to beat President Jimmy Carter with that LMAGA slogan.

So, for argument’s sake, let’s assume when Reagan used LMAGA he was referring to the 1953-1961 years of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. 

For many, the 1950s are remembered as a “simpler” time. So let’s get nostalgic and take a peek at, say, 1955’s highest US tax rates.

In 1955, the top tax rate was 91 percent, which was set by the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. This was legislation passed by the 83rd Congress, which had Republican majorities in the Senate and House, and signed by a Republican president.

Our current marginal tax rate for the richest Americans is 37 percent set by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, legislation passed by the 115th Congress, which had Republican majorities in the Senate and House, and signed by a Republican president, Trump — and extended by last year’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” passed by GOP-controlled chambers and signed by Trump.

The Internal Revenue Code of 1954, with its top tax bracket of 91 percent, lasted until the Revenue Act of 1964, proposed by Kennedy, signed into law by Johnson and passed by the 88th United States Congress, which had Democratic majorities in the Senate and House. That lowered the top tax rate to 77 percent for top earners. 

The 77 percent rate only lasted a year, going down to 70 percent in 1965.

The biggest cuts to the top tax rate came from the LMAGA guy. The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 lowered that top rate of 70 percent to 50 percent. Since then, the top tax rate has gone down and up a few times, but essentially settling into its current high-30s state.

Few things in life are as black and white as death and taxes.

You’re either alive or dead and you’re either owed a refund or owe the government. (And yes, there are always way for people to avoid the top tax rate, or offset it, but they also pay payroll taxes, gas taxes, state and local taxes, capital gains taxes and etc.)

Meanwhile, adjectives like “great” are far from clear. Were things “great” when the top tax rate was 91 percent? Are they “great” now?