Where does $2 Trillion in subsidies for the wealthiest hide? Capital gains tax breaks
WASHINTON, DC via Next New Deal | By Harry Stein | Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz takes a hard look at subsidies for investment income. He advocates taxing capital gains and dividends at the same rates as ordinary income. Under current law, the federal government will deliver an estimated $1.34 trillion in subsidies to investors over the next 10 years in the form of reduced tax rates for capital gains and dividends. Sixty-eight percent of that money will go to the top 1 percent. Stiglitz argues that there is “no justification for taxing those who work hard to earn a living at a higher rate than those who derive their income from speculation.”