Capital gains are not "after-tax" earnings. That would be dividends which pretty much no one pays anymore (see stock buybacks). And corporate taxes are a joke,

Capital gains are not "after-tax" earnings. That would be dividends which pretty much no one pays anymore (see stock buybacks). And corporate taxes are a joke, no one pays those either. As a startup employee, I understand and appreciate the mechanics of capital gains taxes. But I also realize that the ultra wealthy are using a number tax maneuvers unfairly. They use shell companies to avoid paying corporate taxes, they use stock buybacks to avoid paying taxes on dividends, and they use stock as collateral for personal loans to avoid liquidating stock and paying capital gains. My primary source of money/income are my wages. I have few if any options to defer or reduce my tax burden. Meanwhile folks much wealthier then I have figured out how to delay a large portion of their tax burden indefinitely. And in the meantime, roads need to be fixed, the military needs to be paid, etc... and many of these government expenditures disproportionately benefit the wealthy (roads subsidize cheap transportation of goods, military enforces US hegemony allowing for international trade (and stable allies in which one can locate their shell companies!)). I am not a huge fan of wealth taxes, but I struggle to see a better solution that won't eventually get loopholed to death. A 1% tax on holdings worth more than $10M or so seems like it could be the solution. An added benefit is that it would "encourage" wealthy individuals to earn some income, take dividends, or realize capital gains in order to pay the wealth tax, and each of those actions would generate a separate set of tax revenues.