Robin Hood would be proud of the Washington Post’s perverted view of capital gains taxation. If the newspaper has its way, he wouldn’t have to steal from the rich to give to the poor. The government would be doing it for him.
Calling it the “most controversial tax break on Wall Street,” the Post promoted the idea of wrongdoing:
“[It] is not authorized by any law and was never approved by Congress,” wrote the Post.
The Post continued:
“But at a time of rising income inequality and with Congress engaged in a desperate hunt for cash to expand aid to a disgruntled middle class, the Wall Street money men have become an appealing target for Democratic lawmakers and presidential candidates, who say the financiers are woefully undertaxed,” wrote Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Lori Montgomery in the August 3 Post.
The writers made investors and fund managers sound dishonest by referring to the current capital gains rate of 15 percent as a “loophole” and a “tax break.” It also called the proposed increase in the rate to 35 percent a “reform” instead of a tax hike.
The National Taxpayers Union [the group was not quoted by the Post] shared its opposition to modifying tax codes for capital gains with the
“Capital income should be taxed at the lowest possible rate without respect to who the taxpayer is. Characterizing the treatment of capital gains as a loophole for some taxpayers will lead to it being called a loophole for everyone. Any concession to advocates of higher capital gains taxes is therefore more likely to embolden than to appease them.”
