Fair or not, tax law applies to all

There's a lot of talk these days about the unfair taxes rich people pay compared to the regular folks. That in itself reeks of "class warfare," but from Obama all the way down, the liberals say it's just about fairness. That's fine, change the tax code, but why can't they just be honest about it?

Let's use the percentage angle, because you certainly can't use the actual dollar figure. And why demonize someone because they are following current tax law? (I'm sure there are few Democrats with investments.) Fact is, there's no "unfairness" happening, we all, left and right, get the same tax rate on capital gains and we all get the same tax rate on earned income. Regular folks have investments, too. (Do you have a 401k?)

Capital gains at 15 percent and earned income at 35 percent, which is really a starting point, after deductions it can get a lot lower (mine were 17 percent last year). And you can't buy the right's argument about taxing it twice. You don't pay tax twice; you pay tax on the money earned over the original investment. If you invest $100 and earn $50 to total $150, you only pay tax on the gains ($50). So they should just stop (and I hate this term) talking apples and oranges and start being honest. Or is deception how elections are won?

Howard M. Burpee
Tulalip