Slap-in-the-Face Wealth Gap Images

[CincyDem]

26. Txn taxes won't make a difference.

Last time I looked, the proposal was something like a penny per hundred (maybe thousand) dollars of transaction - sure that gets to be a big number with the transactions are huge but it still leaves 99.99 (or 99.999)% in the buyer/seller's pockets.

The tax issue we need to address is the cost we pay to make money via labor versus make money via financial manipulations.

If I go out and work a 40 hour week, I pay income taxes - in effect I pay the government for the right to work in this country. If, on the other hand, I have a fair amount of money I can let it go out and do the work and I pay capital gains taxes. In this case, I'm paying the government for the privilege of having my money doing the work.

We tax labor at 30+%, maybe as high as 40% by the time every taxing entity between the local precinct and the federal government gets their hands on my W2.

At the same time, we tax capital gains at 15% and as best I recall, it's only the feds. Some states tax cap gains and very few municipalities do.

So...given the choice, I pay more for the privilege of laboring in this country than I do for the privilege of sitting back and letting my money do the work.

Until we fix that imbalance, the system will always tilt to devaluing labor.

Sounds like America.