| Jumpin said: Capitalism actually isn't about working hard. If that were the case, then passive income sources, such as investments, would not be so much more profitable than hard work. The vast majority of people who work hard are doing it to stay afloat, and retire only to be forced to make their own bread as their main food source to cut expenses down. |
You're right, capitalism isn't about "working hard" it is about working smart, and I don't think you can call an agreement between two parties that was willingly entered by both "exploitation".
A company offers a worker a wage that is (roughly) equal to what they would have to pay someone else to do as good of a job if the worker decides not to take the job, and the worker accepts the wage if it is better than or (roughly) equal to what they would earn by working for another company. Competition determines a person's salary, and (under capitalism) a person has tons of control over the skills they develop in their life (and therefore the income they earn).
Ultimately, beyond the obvious arguments against double taxation, capital gains taxes are lower than income taxes to encourage investing of money. When people invest their own money it is good for both the people investing and the economy on the whole (over the long run). With the government already encouraging taking on greater levels of debt to buy products and services of little value investing has already been discouraged to an extreme level, and taxing investment income at higher rates will only make this worse by reducing the growth rate in the economy and making people more dependent on the government.
