Most investors don’t get rich on stocks

This is in response to David Hrdlicka’s Sept. 28 letter concerning “wealthy people living off the fat of the land” when paying only 15 percent capital gains tax. Where does he think those “wealthy people” got their money to invest in the stock market? The earned it. And on that earned income, they paid their 19 percent, 27 percent or 35 percent federal income tax depending on their tax bracket. And then they invested some that of taxed earned income into risk/reward equities. And if they were lucky enough to see a capital gain, then they paid 15 percent on the reward, and if they lost, they got a miniscule tax credit.

Included in those “wealthy people who live off the fat of the land” are myself and thousands of other lower-class, middle-class and upper-class individuals who are willing to risk their taxed-earned income in the equities market. The “Warren Buffett” theory mixes apples and oranges. Think it through.

Bill Koller

Des Plaines