[hn_throwaway_99]

> It's misleading because the rich that they're talking about already paid a much higher rate when they originally got the money in earnings. It's just the 2nd round of taxation: the capital gains which is lower, as it should be.

That's pretty much bullshit by any reasonable definition of "earnings".

Relevant to the HN crowd, let's take an example of a startup founder who hits a home run and whose equity is eventually worth a billion dollars. The founder's company had multiple funding rounds, and eventually the company had an IPO so the founder could sell his equity on the public markets. The founder will pay low capital gains rates on his stock, with a basis of 0.

At no point did the founder put any cash into the company originally from previous earnings. Instead, all of the financial gains from the equity were as a result of the founder's blood, sweat and tears - what we normally refer to as "working". Surely, of course, the founder had a lot more at risk, but at no point did the founder previously pay a much higher rate on any capital that went into the business.