An idea for a fairer capital gains tax

At the risk of having my liberal and conservative friends get all huffy about what I’m about to say, they need to put aside all the propaganda and double talk they hear from our paid politicians.

There is an easy way to level the playing field when it comes to at least one portion of the taxes we pay. My liberal friends don’t think it’s right for a person to earn millions (some earn billions) of dollars each year and manage to claim those earnings as capital gains and pay a 15 percent tax rate. My conservative friends say we must keep that in the tax code because it stimulates investment, which is good for the economy.

As an independent, I say they are both right, to a point. If we eliminate the 15 percent capital gains tax, folks like me will be hurt. That lower rate helps me with my few thousand dollars in capital gains every year. If we do nothing about it, folks making millions each year wind up paying a rate lower than mine, and I’m on Social Security.

I suggest keeping the 15 percent rate for the first million dollars in capital gains. Raising the rate to 20 percent for the second million and taxing the remainder at the regular rate for that person’s income. This will continue to encourage investment and go a long way to eliminating capital gains being used as a dodge to pay a higher rate.

Unfortunately, this solution may be very unpopular for the politicians in Washington; and like many other decent ideas, it will be ignored. Instead, they will move on to other things that will waste their time, our money and produce no positive results. Expecting Congress, largely made up of millionaires, to vote to raise their own taxes is unlikely. Unfortunately, that’s what our political system has become.

Len Brauer

Palatine