<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>dragonwriter</author><text>&amp;gt; Capital gains taxes are lower for a specific reason: the capital that was initially invested was already taxed.&lt;p&gt;That is not a sensible reason for capital gains (which apply only to gains) to be taxed lower, since the &lt;i&gt;gains&lt;/i&gt; have not already been taxed.&lt;p&gt;It also doesn&amp;#x27;t explain why the reduced rate (compared to “regular” income) applies to long-term gains, since the original capital was taxed regardless of whether the gain is long or short term.&lt;p&gt;The &lt;i&gt;best&lt;/i&gt; fairness-grounded argument I’ve seen for reduced LTCG taxes is that, in a progressive annual income tax system treating gains earned over multiple years but realized at the end as single-year income at full tax rates overtaxes compared to what would have occurred if the income was spread out over the time it took to accumulate before realization, unless the recipient would already have been at the max marginal rate every year before the gains at issue were considered.&lt;p&gt;This is a valid point, but allowing free voluntary advance tax recognition of income and deferring tax recognition after realization for windfalls (say, spreading amounts above the middle actual realized income of the last three years over up to ten subsequent years) deals with that problem more comprehensively (not just for capital income) without &lt;i&gt;undertaxing&lt;/i&gt; those who would be at the maximum marginal rate even without the particular long-term gain, or who are continuously rolling out long-term gains year after year repeatedly.&lt;p&gt;Favorable LTCG rates are a way to use a poor approximation of fairness for middle-class earners with occasional long-term gains to sneak in wildly favorable treatment forn the super-rich, instead of just treating income fairly all around.&lt;p&gt;(There&amp;#x27;s also a trickle-down economics argument for low capital gains rates, that is &lt;i&gt;not&lt;/i&gt; fairness-grounded: “we want to encourage the already rich to invest and make more money, because positive side effects of this will trickle-down on the lower socioeconomic classes”.)</text><parent_chain><item><author>qeternity</author><text>&amp;gt; the problem is not missing regulation, the problem is the rich decide on regulation and this regulation helps keep them rich.&lt;p&gt;Ok - so the rich have decided on regulations which are not the ones that are best for everyone. So…missing regulations? By definition, if we have the wrong regulations, then we’re missing the correct ones.&lt;p&gt;Capital gains taxes are lower for a specific reason: the capital that was initially invested was already taxed. These laws benefit average people much more than they do the rich on a relative basis. Go model out a retirement portfolio that is taxed&amp;#x2F;compounded at ordinary rates vs capital gains rates.&lt;p&gt;What people really want is higher capital gains for rich people which is fine, but you fundamentally misunderstand why they’re lower in the first place, which is double taxation.</text></item><item><author>blatchcorn</author><text>I am not who you are asking but I want to chime in: the problem is not missing regulation, the problem is the rich decide on regulation and this regulation helps keep them rich.&lt;p&gt;Specific examples: UK capital gains tax is lower than income taxes. This means if you are born in to a wealthy family and given a £1MM index fund, you will pay less yearly tax on your capital gains while chilling at home all day than someone with a £50K job working hard and contributing to society</text></item><item><author>qeternity</author><text>Please elaborate. Which regulations do you think are missing?</text></item><item><author>krageon</author><text>&amp;gt; highly regulated&lt;p&gt;Regulated by them, so in practice not all that regulated</text></item><item><author>qeternity</author><text>Yes, we know who those 50 are, and the wealth they own is in highly regulated markets. We know what they own, how much they own, when they buy&amp;#x2F;sell. We also dictate that they cannot trade on insider info and must generally play fair.&lt;p&gt;Say all you want about the efficacy of the above measures, they are absolutely not perfect. But it&amp;#x27;s completely different to bitcoin where none of the above applies, and often the opposite occurs.</text></item><item><author>robocat</author><text>“The 50 richest Americans now hold almost as much wealth as half of the U.S.” - Bloomberg - &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;archive.vn&amp;#x2F;25Bz4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;archive.vn&amp;#x2F;25Bz4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is there any reason to think bitcoin is that much different from ownership ratios of other financial assets?</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Bitcoin is largely controlled by a small group of investors and miners</title><url>https://www.techspot.com/news/91937-bitcoin-largely-controlled-small-group-investors-miners-study.html</url></story>
<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>coryfklein</author><text>I think we&amp;#x27;re pretty far beyond &amp;quot;double taxation&amp;quot; at this point. I think my money gets taxed at least 3-5 times in the various stages it passes through my use.</text><parent_chain><item><author>qeternity</author><text>&amp;gt; the problem is not missing regulation, the problem is the rich decide on regulation and this regulation helps keep them rich.&lt;p&gt;Ok - so the rich have decided on regulations which are not the ones that are best for everyone. So…missing regulations? By definition, if we have the wrong regulations, then we’re missing the correct ones.&lt;p&gt;Capital gains taxes are lower for a specific reason: the capital that was initially invested was already taxed. These laws benefit average people much more than they do the rich on a relative basis. Go model out a retirement portfolio that is taxed&amp;#x2F;compounded at ordinary rates vs capital gains rates.&lt;p&gt;What people really want is higher capital gains for rich people which is fine, but you fundamentally misunderstand why they’re lower in the first place, which is double taxation.</text></item><item><author>blatchcorn</author><text>I am not who you are asking but I want to chime in: the problem is not missing regulation, the problem is the rich decide on regulation and this regulation helps keep them rich.&lt;p&gt;Specific examples: UK capital gains tax is lower than income taxes. This means if you are born in to a wealthy family and given a £1MM index fund, you will pay less yearly tax on your capital gains while chilling at home all day than someone with a £50K job working hard and contributing to society</text></item><item><author>qeternity</author><text>Please elaborate. Which regulations do you think are missing?</text></item><item><author>krageon</author><text>&amp;gt; highly regulated&lt;p&gt;Regulated by them, so in practice not all that regulated</text></item><item><author>qeternity</author><text>Yes, we know who those 50 are, and the wealth they own is in highly regulated markets. We know what they own, how much they own, when they buy&amp;#x2F;sell. We also dictate that they cannot trade on insider info and must generally play fair.&lt;p&gt;Say all you want about the efficacy of the above measures, they are absolutely not perfect. But it&amp;#x27;s completely different to bitcoin where none of the above applies, and often the opposite occurs.</text></item><item><author>robocat</author><text>“The 50 richest Americans now hold almost as much wealth as half of the U.S.” - Bloomberg - &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;archive.vn&amp;#x2F;25Bz4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;archive.vn&amp;#x2F;25Bz4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is there any reason to think bitcoin is that much different from ownership ratios of other financial assets?</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Bitcoin is largely controlled by a small group of investors and miners</title><url>https://www.techspot.com/news/91937-bitcoin-largely-controlled-small-group-investors-miners-study.html</url></story>