these arguments are thoughtful and deserve a fair hearing. Most, unfortunately, are simply inane, and are made by politicians attempting to push some constituent's emotional button (Jenkins, 1990; Wanniski, 1989), or they are efforts to promote some other type of tax reform by challenging a reduction in the tax rate for capital-gains (Panetta, 1990; Galbraith, 1989).
In spite of all the political rhetoric on the conservative side, and all of the efforts by liberals to cast aspersions on a capital-gains tax cut as a means of promoting their own pet tax reform, there remain several sound arguments both pro and con on the issue. All of these arguments cannot be considered in this brief exploration. Therefore, four of the most significant of these arguments--two pro and two con--have been selected for a more detailed assessment of the issue.
Arguments Supporting A Capital-Gains Tax Cut
A strong argument favoring a reduction in the tax rate for capital-gains is that much of what is currently taxed as capital gains, in fact, represents nothing more than changes in nominal values of assets resulting from inflation in the general economy (Archer, 1990). A second strong argument favoring a ca
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