It peaked at 94% during WW2, but even absent of any wars, it was significantly higher than it is now (35%).

It was even worse once you work out how much more progressive our tax is now than it used to be. In 1982, you were paying 50% federal tax on all income above $106K (about $200K in today's dollars). Now the top tax rate doesn't even kick in until after $388K.

People today are paying historically low tax rates mostly because of the Republican's cynical attempt to "starve the beast" in order to reduce spending - which I might add is entirely backwards as it gives everyone what they want and no one feels any pain. If they really wanted to reduce spending, they'd force tax raises so everyone felt the consequences of every new government program.