>>>I made a rough calculation using statistics for 1-year interest, yearly inflation
>and only 15% tax rate (doubtful if 1 year horizon qualifies for the lower 15% bracket)
>and from starting from 2000 you end in 2010 with 96.7% of your purchasing power.
>
>$ in the bank is perceived as safer, but it tends to erode. People can choose to put their $ elsewhere if they don't like that. IMHO people understand very well that some choices appreciate and some depreciate. IMHO this has nothing to do with fairness: people choose where they want to put their $ and if it involves a gain,

But the "gain" is only in the number of $ - it is a loss in the reality of buying power.
Taxing it even stronger will make everybody having surplus purchasing power stop giving their nest egg to gov -
it will either move more into areas where the gain is not often realized and show the Ponzi scheme
we are living under the last 3 decades more clearly.

>IMHO it's fair for it to be taxed at the same rate- especially on capital gain that historically has multiplied wealth hugely and is increasingly inaccessible to Joe Average.

That the gap is widening is not really a proof of "the rich" keeping among themselves like an indian caste system.
The dishwasher to billionaire is more of an idea than reality,
but the flexibility to move compared to your "wealth neighbor" is still there.