The article provides new information on the rate of return on tangible assets in the United States from 1959 to 1996. The pretax return on capital in the nonfinancial corporate sector averaged 8.5 percent during this period. The total tax burden on nonfinancial corporate capital averaged 54.1 percent, with taxes on corporate income, property, and stockholders accounting for 42.1 percent of pretax profits in the 1990s. The average pretax rate of return for the 1990-1996 period was 8.6 percent, with an average after-tax return of 5.0 percent. Despite higher returns in the mid-1990s, the volatility in the return series suggests caution in interpreting these years as a departure from past trends.