I'd love to know how that worked, because it's really hard to picture how lower earners scraped by with such high taxes. By the late 1960s, wage scales were such that it makes sense they could get by. Even minimum wage, in 1968, was over $11 in today's money, and men, at least, had higher real median incomes than they have today. But in the mid-1950s, minimum wage was even a bit lower than today, adjusted for inflation and median real incomes were quie a bit lower. I wonder if there were bigger exemptions.