Does this piss you off?

[bu villain]

The thing about capital gain tax and why its lower rate is justified, is that it is income made from investments. Investments which have a certain amount of risk associated with it. So if you invest 1 million dollars and lose it all, you just a shit load of money. But if you turned that 1 million into 2 million, you get taxed at a lower rate than as regular income because with regular income you are guaranteed a certain amount, say $10 bucks an hour but capital gain is not guaranteed. Atleast that's how I see it.

The return you get is what should make up for the risk, not just the taxable rate. Capital investment is absolutely a good thing but when you have a capital gains rate that is lower than the earned income rate, you are signaling that capital investment is more important than labor. Further, after 2008, do you really feel we need to incentivize people to take more financial risks?

[Vteckidd]

The return you get is what should make up for the risk, not just the taxable rate. Capital investment is absolutely a good thing but when you have a capital gains rate that is lower than the earned income rate, you are signaling that capital investment is more important than labor. Further, after 2008, do you really feel we need to incentivize people to take more financial risks?

its a circular argument. If you make Investment taxes the same as labor, then people wont invest. Why? You know if you work 40 hours a week you make XXXXX money. If you make investment the same taxable rate as income, why invest? In labor you have no risk of not getting paid, or "losing" everything unless you get fired.

We also have to agree that if your stock raises from $100-120 and you make $20, the economy has "grown" because the reason that stock rises is because the company is doing well.

usually.