Washington’s ‘War Against Winners’

A snippet from my latest syndicated column:

"...Ironically, a lot of today’s anti-cap-gains momentum is the handiwork of former Clinton Treasury secretary Robert Rubin. He actually believes a low cap-gains tax has no economic growth impact at all. However, back when Clinton and Rubin were running things, the personal income-tax rate was lifted from 31 to 40 percent, while the cap-gains tax was reduced from 28 to 20 percent, making for a 20 percentage point tax advantage for cap-gains over regular income. Flashing forward, the current Bush administration lowered the income-tax rate to 35 percent and the cap-gains rate to 15 percent, preserving that 20 percent differential.

Hmm...Is Rubin saying the cap-gains tax advantage was good for the Clinton boom, but not the Bush boom?

Truth is, that differential provides a strong incentive for entrepreneurial risk taking and higher-risk, cutting-edge investment -- both of which lend real torque to the economy...."