Originally Posted by Malorn
1) Short-term capital gains are taxed at the normal tax rate. That means investments that you hold onto less than 1 year. Long term gains cap out at 15% because they are riskier investments. Democrats love to misrepresent capital gains by only referring to long term investment and leaving out the high short term tax rate. Learn more about the actual rates here. |
Oh I understand. Romney also paid <15% in taxes last year thanks to capital gains. He also thinks he pays too much. I paid a higher rate than a multi-millionaire
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2) Capital gains is money earned on investment, not wages. When you earn wages and then turn around and invest that money and get taxed on the investment, you were taxed twice.
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How absurd!
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3) Investment is not limited to the rich. Anyone can do it. Rich or poor. The lower income brackets have lower capital gains taxes to try to encourage investment, at least under the Bush cuts.
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It is effectively limited when cost of living prevents you from having enough money to invest in the first place. If you can't afford rent, you arent investing.
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4) If you had ever done investment, you'd know that it is a lot of work to find good investments, and there's always risk you can lose money, unlike employment. You can invest a lot of money and lose all of it, and if you do make gains that's taxed. It's a lot of risk, and a lot of work.
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You know what else even more work? Actual work. You know what is risky to your health and well being? Many jobs. So why are they taxed at a higher rate?
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5) Adding taxes to capital gains adds risk to investment. Lowering or removing the tax lessens the risk and thus encourages investment. Lower taxes encourage investment in our market and lead to economic growth.
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You know what else adds to economic growth? A middle class with lots of disposable income. The economy is dynamic. If there is demand investment wont need to be encouraged.
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If more people were educated on how to make smart investments we'd see more investing and more economic growth. Instead liberals want to ignorantly demonize capitalism so they can press their socialist agenda and get votes by taking from the rich and giving to the poor while simultaneously keeping the poor down so they retain those votes.
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What money are you investing if you live in poverty?
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As the old proverb goes...
Give a man a fish and he will not go hungry today.
Teach a man to fish and he will not go hungry for his lifetime.
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Okay. But where does the man get his fishing gear?
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Liberals want to give out lots of fish instead of teaching those who are hungry how to fish. The former perpetuates poverty and allows them to continue pointing fingers at the rich. The latter actually solves the problem, but would rob them of their platform. Liberals are not the friends of the poor; they're actually the ones holding the poor back with economic slavery and welfare chains. It's brilliant because the poor actually thank them for it and believe they are helping.
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Yea those blasted pell grants and food stamps I received really held me back... Oh wait, they gave me the opportunity to succeed.
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It also goes back to individualism, a fundamental difference between modern liberals and classic liberals (aka modern conservatives). The former believes in income redistribution, which is a belief in the society not the individual. The other believes in individual ability to excel and thrive, which is the classic American self-made-man story, such as Abraham Lincoln's story.
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No individual is independent of society. Without society, an individual would not thrive.
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Bush lowered long-term capital gains to 5% on the lowest tax bracket individuals (this is spun by liberals as the "bush tax cuts that only affect the wealthiest americans" - which is untrue because lower class and middle class investors also benefited). Short term gains were unaffected by the cuts, but short-term gains will be increasing next year, which is not good for the economy. Thanks to Obama long term gains for the lower tax brackets will be double what it is today in 2013. That's right, Mr. Hope and Change made it harder for the middle-class Americans to invest and accumulate wealth, not only hurting one's ability to overcome economic barriers but also discouraging investment into the market. Screwing both working class and the entire economy simultaneously. And yet some of them still have this illusion that he's working for them because they remain ignorant of how investment actually works. As long as people are ignorant on how to make the most of capitalism they will continue to be abused.
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Again, poor and middle class do not have nearly as much money to invest. So yes it DOES mostly only affect the wealthiest Americans.
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Only through embracing capitalism will the poor rise in wealth and our economy improve.
And when it comes to leading our country, I'd much rather have a man who knows how the capitalist system works and has personally thrived in it. He understands how to create wealth and jobs, which is precisely the skillset our country needs its leader to have. Hope doesn't pull people out of poverty; knowledge and work ethic do.
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“It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.”
Im pretty sure Adam Smith knew a thing or two about capitalism.