Experts have done numerous analyses demonstrating how certain tax policies break the balance between encouraging growth (and “creating jobs”) and contributing to broader community and social objectives. Steve Mufson of the Washington Post reports: “As a result of a pair of rate cuts, first under President Bill Clinton and then under Bush, most of the richest Americans pay lower overall tax rates than middle-class Americans do.”
He says: “While it’s true that many middle-class Americans own stocks or bonds, they tend to stash them in tax-sheltered retirement accounts, where the capital gains rate does not apply. By contrast, the richest Americans reap huge benefits. Over the past 20 years, more than 80 percent of the capital gains income realized in the United States has gone to 5 percent of the people; about half of all the capital gains have gone to the wealthiest 0.1 percent.”
Marty Sullivan, an economist and a contributing editor to Tax Analysts, says: “The way you get rich in this world is not by working hard. It’s by owning large amounts of assets and having those things appreciate in value.”