OK, let's look at the facts of carried interest, which is taxed as capital gains, and do the math on that. A hedge fund manager is paid for his labor by his inv

OK, let's look at the facts of carried interest, which is taxed as capital gains, and do the math on that. A hedge fund manager is paid for his labor by his investors - it is quite literally a transfer of money from investors to the manager for a job performed. Why should that labor be only taxaed at 15% when his w2 secretary is taxed at a much greater rate. The discussion about "rich vs middle class" misses the point if, for example, you only look at the top 10%. The issue is really about the differences between earned and unearned income, and that is where you get this degree of what people believe is fundamentally unfair, like Warren Buffet paying a lower effective tax rate than anyone else that works in his office.