Letter: Capital gains rates

I feel it necessary to respond to Christopher Conway’s recent letter, "Romney’s tax rate,” about the 15 percent capital gains rate being justified over having these folks taxed at the usual 23 percent or30 percent rate as the rest of us are.

He makes a perfect case for the conservative point of view which is why I need to present the progressive one. Say a carpenter also wants to invest his "after tax dollars” in some gainful manner much as the paper shuffler that Conway extols. Instead of just buying some stock or a CD, or some other passive investment, he buys some nails and timber and goes out to put an extension on someone’s home. The gain he realizes in this endeavor is taxed at the usual higher rate. How can that make any sense when he is actually creating something as opposed to participating in an investors bagatelle where many times little is accomplished other than driving up the price of stocks and in all too many cases creates a damaging bubble that of necessity will pop eventually bringing yet more instability into our economic system?

I’m certainly not saying investors aren’t also necessary and that they don’t create jobs and circulate money in the process. What I do say is that the guys hammering nails and actually sweating in the process shouldn’t be taxed more forcefully than the paper shuffler. I’ll let you folks decide.

Mike Caggiano

San Mateo