
The most important issue of our day is fair taxes.
At the risk of redundancy: The
most important issue of our day is fair taxes. Fairness through simplicity, especially at the federal level.
Fair and simple taxes, public budgets that are balanced by law, and transparency in all things politics.
The stars await, kids.
At the risk of redundancy: I'll repeat here what I've already said elsewhere: You know what? if Rom put all his money into capital investments, and all his income was capital gains and he paid virtually no or little income taxes I'd be happy with that going forward. The new jobs and the taxpayers which would be created in the process, would make up for any foregone revenue to the treasury many times over.
To add my voice to LoneLaugher and wjmacguffin this sound like a very niave statement that the rich getting richer is by default good for everyone. The counter examples are the history of men. Responsible government, responsible business, a great America. As I have stated elsewhere the Republicans are not helping in either case.
It sounds naive to you, emptystep, because you don't understand it. You have to know what capital gains are, but more to the point what they can do. Capital gains taxes are taxes on earnings on risked capital. Ordinary interest bearing investments like interest bearing CD's used to have some of that power to create capital for those who could make use of it, but their rates are too low now to incentivize and the money is misdirected.
But when capital finds itself in the hands of those with an idea, and the desire to create a business around that idea, then with the opportunity to do that they will build something that wasn't there before and create jobs that didn't exist before, including taxpayers paying both federal income taxes ... but also social security and medicare "taxes."
People with money have to put it somewhere; and they do not put it under the mattress, bury it in the back-yard, or store it in a money-room where they can go to count it like Scrooge McDuck. They try to grow it not just preserve it if they can, and they measure risk against potential return.
When things are sour and stagnant like they are here, they'll put it anywhere other than low CD rates or low Bond rates if they can. There are some very high bond rates outside the US they can put their money in. Even New Zealand's present bond rate is double the US rate. (3.66 % vs 1.65%).
A very low cap gains tax (or zero) under a republican president, with the assurance it would remain in place for a while would spur new business growth and new jobs far in excess of what low interest rates can do. None of those people believe anything thats coming out of the present adminstration, so we are stuck for the time being.
If crooks weren't supported by government policies, like "too big to fail, (as created in Dodd Frank)" moral hazards" (like Government Sponsored Entities), "croney capitalism" (like General Electric which paid no taxes in 2011), "picking winner and losers" (like Solyndra and a hundred others), then we might approach your ideal of a "great America" as stated in your last paragraph. But those things I just itemized and a score of others are dampening the economy and creation of wealth for ordinary folks, not for the very rich which can always make do, or leave and go elsewhere taking their vital support with them.