Raising the Capital Gains Tax Hurts Every Working Person

For all you “Soak the Rich” types, one thing that should be explained is that everybody has something in the stock market. There are millions of small investors when compared to the super rich we keep hearing about. There are municipalities across this nation that have money in the stock market whether it be in floating bonds to pay for school systems and local infrastructure or town and city pension plans. They’re in there. And the small investors, people who have under $100,000.00 in scattered across different stocks like Verizon and Columbia Gas, aren’t exactly what you call wheeler-dealers in the stock market. For most people it has taken a working career to accumulate this sum.

Utilities are highly regulated and their stocks don’t swing far up or down but remain a steady source of income for retired people who have worked their whole lives to build up a nest egg. Many retired people have at least part of their savings in the stock market and it’s not particularly big money but along with a 401k and their Social Security, retired folks can live the way they were living prior to stopping working.

I want to add that these were also the people who the government stiffed out of their savings by taking over General Motors and royally screwing the small investor while practically handing the GM Union the company. Not rich people by any stretch of the imagination and actually many retired GM employees to boot!

It is the middle class investors who are the people most hurt by taxes on dividends and capital gains taxes, not the super-rich or the just plain rich who can either afford to pay the tax or more likely avoid them altogether. It’s Ma and Pa that are afraid to sell when capital gains rates go up or get whacked when they have to pay the higher rates on their dividends.

If you’re working and contributing to a 401k, you are going to see higher administration costs and fees. If you’re a small stock holder, you’re going to see a tax increase bite into your investment.

What’s that you’re saying? You don’t own any stocks in rich Wall Street traded companies so screw all the people who do? Here’s news for you:  Stock investment has been very easy for people for quite a while now. With an initial $250.00 a person can buy a big or small company’s stock direct without a broker and reinvest the dividends to purchase more stock so when it comes time to retire, they can then start to draw dividends to subsidize their other retirement savings. Many millions of people, regular middle-class people with jobs, have taken advantage of this savings option. If you have a bank account, you can have a stock account.

Plus, your private 401k as well as your teacher’s pension, your DPW pension, your Police and Firefighter’s pensions are in the stock market.

Now the government is going after this too to fund their unwieldy and on the verge of collapse welfare state.

But even if they do, it won’t be enough. Once the government gets their tax hikes, it won’t do anything to bring down the massive debt it has accumulated in just the last year, never mind the last 8 years. Even if the government declares everybody with a job “rich”, it won’t be enough. There just aren’t enough rich folks to take care of everybody else.

So when you hear people in government talking about raising the capital gains tax rates, they’re really talking about YOU.

Who did you vote for again?