Laffer curve cited directly by Laffer. For example, in 1924, Secretary of Treasury Andrew Mellon wrote: "It seems difficult for some to understand that high rates of taxation do not necessarily mean large revenue to the government, and that more revenue may often be obtained by lower rates". Exercising his understanding that "73% of nothing is nothing", he pushed for the reduction of the top income tax bracket from 73% to an eventual 24% (as well as tax breaks for lower brackets). Mellon was one of the wealthiest people in the United States, the third-highest income-tax payer in the mid-1920s, behind John
From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs can be found in the Guilford Covenant in 1639: Some scholars trace the origin of the phrase to the New Testament. In Acts of the Apostles the lifestyle of the community of believers in Jerusalem is described as communal (without individual possession), and uses the phrase ""distribution was made unto every man according as he had need"" (): However, other scholars disagree with this, and claim that the phrase 'from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs' has a non-religious origin, in 'the Roman legal concept of obligation in solidum' The Roman legal concept of obligation