Letter: Romney's tax rate

For those fellow Californians who want to delve into Mitt Romney’s taxes and wonder why his tax rate is around 15 percent, I give the following explanation. Mr. Romney’s income comes primarily from capital gains. Keep in mind that the money he is investing has already been taxed once as ordinary income at either personal or corporate tax rates. They are then taking this money that has already been taxed and investing it into various assets, such as stocks, startup companies or any other investments where their money is at risk.

The key that people need to realize is that there is a difference in tax rates for ordinary income and capital gains. There is a good reason for this. To encourage investment and risk-taking, which is vital to the growth of our economy, we need to make it attractive for people with money to invest that money.

If the return on this investment is taxed at higher rates as President Obama would like, these people are deterred from investing their money into our struggling economy. Would you rather have 15 percent of something or 30 percent of nothing?

Christopher P. Conway

San Mateo