Why are your earned wage taxed more than those, like Romney, who invest for a living.

[WCGreen]

Think about it. Wages and Salaries are taxed at the regular incomes tax rate while Capital Gains and Dividends are treated differently and have caps on how much these kinds of income can be taxed.

Why do you think Romney, and those like him, were able to amass a huge fortune while the rest of use Wage Slaves are treading water.

This all happened when Capital Gains taxes were given special treatment starting in 1986 because you held the investment for an amount of time and no one, the theory goes, should be taxed on inflation.

Well, the income level that sets the floor for our tax rates are indexed for inflation so there should be no special treatment for Capital Gains or, for that matter, dividends.

The poor schlubs that work for a living can't catch a break. Guys like Romney have scorched earthed our economy so that million of people have lost any opportunity to get ahead of the game.

And to top it off, the person still lucky enough to have a good job and making a decent wage are paying taxes at a higher rate than guys like Romney.

So these people at the top do everything they can to divert their income to capital gains and walk away paying, at most, about 20%, and at best, 15%.

God Damn it, a dollar is a dollar no matter how you earn it.

[kestrel91316]

1. Because actual physical work is lowly. If you do it, it's a sign that Gawd does not favor you.

If he did, you would be wealthy and never have to work at all. Then you could be a member of the superior investor class.

[Fumesucker]

2. Because they own the politicians who make the rules

QED

[renie408]

3. I don't know.

I have had it explained to me a million times and I still don't understand it. I have had it explained to me that the government wants to encourage investment in businesses through stocks, so taxes those gains at a lower rate. I have had it explained to me that dividends and interest are considered unearned income, and the IRS taxes unearned income either not at all or differently.

I don't understand it at all.

[Jim Warren]

4. That's one of those "emperor has no clothes" observations.

Eminently valid and pertinent to the conversation but avoided and all but lost in the political dialog.
Kinda like why does health care cost so much?

[dicksonm]

5. true

true

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. It just makes me sick, the way things are set up.

It's almost as though they want us to fail.

I hope I'm wrong about that.