I just published a diary advocating for equal taxes on capital gains and ordinary income, e.g., wages. Today comes a James Stewart column in The New York Times with the most hopeful news along those lines that I've seen in a long time. It included this excerpt:
"The view that it’s fundamentally unfair to tax capital gains and other unearned income at preferential rates has been gaining traction, even among the superrich. This week, Pimco’s co-founder, Bill Gross, wrote in his November investment outlook, 'The era of taxing ‘capital’ at lower rates than ‘labor’ should now end.'
"Mr. Gross, whose net worth is estimated at over $2 billion, wrote, 'A fair economic system should always allow for an opportunity to succeed,' but pointed out that many of the superrich were fortunate to benefit from buoyant financial markets, low interest rates and a credit boom.
'You did not create that wave,' he said. 'You rode it. And now it’s time to kick out and share some of your good fortune by paying higher taxes or reforming them to favor economic growth and labor, as opposed to corporate profits and individual gazillions.'
"He noted that two fellow billionaires, Warren Buffett and the hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller, recently advocated a similar approach." (Those were the exact same examples that I used in my earlier diary.)
Will it finally happen? Stay tuned.