"Every dollar collected through a capital gains tax is a dollar stolen twice"

"Capital gains tax represents one of the most egregious examples of double taxation in the federal code, yet politicians treat it as if they're taxing 'unearned' income for the first time. 

"You earn $100,000, pay income tax on it, and save $70,000 after the government takes their cut. You invest that already-taxed money in shares, real estate, or bonds. Ten years later, you sell for $140,000. The government swoops in again, demanding capital gains tax on your $70,000 profit. They're taxing the same economic activity twice: your initial productive work that generated the savings, then the delayed consumption that made investment possible. 

"Capital gains represent nothing more than the time value of money plus compensation for risk. When you save instead of consume immediately, you defer gratification to provide capital for productive investment. That $70,000 you invested didn't sit idle; it funded business expansion, job creation, and economic growth. The return you earned reflects both the productive use of that capital and inflation's erosion of purchasing power over time. 

"The double taxation becomes even more perverse when you consider inflation. If your $70,000 investment becomes $140,000 over ten years, but inflation averaged 3% annually, your real purchasing power increased by roughly $18,000, not $70,000. Yet the IRD taxes the entire nominal gain, including the portion that merely kept pace with their own monetary debasement. 

"Every dollar collected through a capital gains tax is a dollar stolen twice; once from your labour, again from your thrift."

~ Handre [translated from American]