Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981

certainly everybody on this call well knows, the general perception of affordable housing and government incentives for affordable housing was very, very poor.

The 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act with 200% decline in balance, 15-year write-off.

And really, 15-year write-off for all real estate.

It caused just, like I say, almost every, but it caused a huge amount of churning of real estate assets because they were suddenly worth a lot more for their tax benefits.

Since 1981, the U.S. has largely treated public infrastructure as like a secondary priority, allowing critical networks to just sort of erode and crumble, which is what happens when you have to cut the budget due to a shifting tax burden to the wage earners.

Under Reagan, the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 slashed the top marginal income tax rate from 70% to 50%, followed by the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which reduced the top statutory rate directly down to 28%, with a 33% effective bubble bracket.

As federal tax receipts contracted relative to economic growth, Washington systematically reallocated its discretionary capital away from public works.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, CBO, data, overall federal investment as a percentage of GDP plummeted from over 6% in the late 60s down to about 2.4% by the late 2010s.