Laffer curve D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford. While he served as Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department his wealth peaked at around US$300–US$400 million. Personal income-tax receipts rose from US$719 million in 1921 to over US$1 billion in 1929, an average increase of 4.2% per year over an 8-year period, which supporters attribute to the rate cut. David Hume also expressed similar arguments in his essay "Of Taxes" in 1756, as did fellow Scottish economist Adam Smith, twenty years later. The Democratic party made a similar argument in the 1880s when high revenue from import tariffs raised during the Civil War (1861–1865)
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