Tax Day Is Near

The deadline for filing income taxes is just three days away. As usual, the super-rich will be taxed at a lower rate than any other citizens except the poorest of poor. That's because long-term capital gains (money earned from investment of money) are taxed at a minimum of 15 percent. The argument for this policy is that the rich must have incentive to invest their money, thus bolstering the economy. What else would they do with their money – stuff it in cans and bury it in their back yards?

This discriminatory policy penalizes people who actually work for a living and helps insure that they never will be able to accumulate capital of their own.

Warren Buffett and some other super-rich people have publicly announced their willingness to be taxed at a more equitable rate. In 2011 President Obama proposed what he called "The Buffett Rule," which would have leveled the playing field, but our Congress rejected that idea. Its opponents say that if this rule were adopted it would have a negligible effect on our deficit budget. So what? Fair is fair.

All of this leaves me, and probably other ordinary citizens, with a sense of injustice. To me, income is income regardless of how it is earned and should be taxed at the same rate. No fair giving the capitalists an advantage over the poor working stiff.