[astine]

"I don't see why capital gains should be taxed lower."

The point of taxing capital gains lower than income is to encourage the wealthy to invest rather than hoard their wealth. This is good because invested money helps drive economic growth which is usually good for everyone.

[empath75]

That seems like a very good argument for taxing wealth.

[astine]

Not really. We're talking about economic growth not equity. The argument that widespread private investment is better for growth than widespread hoarding is better established than the argument that government spending is better for growth than hoarding. Even with regard to equity or fairness, government spending isn't always better as more government creates the opportunity for more government capture.

There are other arguments for directly taxing wealth, but the one I listed isn't one in my opinion.