Many don't want capital gains to be taxed any amount, even if a stock was bought and sold in seconds. But how does such a short term profit make any real contribution to the economy compared to an hourly worker producing a tangible product such as vegetables or automobiles?
We really should tax capital gains on a sliding scale. Securities held for less than a year should be taxed at the same rate as earnings. Securities held for more than a year should be taxed at a progressively lower rate until securities held for, say, ten years should be taxed at zero percent.
Of course, we are still rewarding people for luck at throwing darts more than people who show up for work everyday.
I'm probably preaching to the choir on this. I've been writing for some time on this and you can see how much it's caught on.
See "Let's do away with capital gains taxes, dividend taxes, and estate taxes by…" or do a search for "Irregular Blog" and "Capital Gains".
