We don't "have an income tax." We have a detailed set of tax laws that apply to individuals. Those laws treat capital gains differently from wages. One of the r

We don't "have an income tax." We have a detailed set of tax laws that apply to individuals. Those laws treat capital gains differently from wages. One of the reasons for that is that lower taxes on capital gains is believed to be more economically efficient. There are, of course, many other considerations that should be taken into account when designing a tax code. And you're free to argue that those other considerations are more important than efficiency. But you aren't actually doing that. You're just pointing to the name of the thing and declaring that because of the words being used a specific system must follow. That's what I mean by word games.