Capital gains tax is one of the more disgusting taxes. Most capital gains are simply due to the devaluation of the unit of account. The banks and government work hand-in-hand. The more money the banks print (as interest-chargeable loans), the more the government makes you pay in capital gains taxes. A win-win situation for them.
One way the wealthy get around this is by taking on debt against their hard assets - generally real estate.
As the price of their assets go up, they take out larger and larger loans, each time paying off the old loan and pocketing the difference tax free. The money is devalued faster than the interest rate, so even after paying interest, they are left with free money (our money), tax-free.
CPI is a useless metric. It doesn't take into that goods and services are going down in value over time (at around 5% per year), and doesn't include hard assets that retain their value such as housing. It's a trick.
> Also, capital gains are unearned.
On average, capital gains aren't gains at all. They are simply the price of your asset going up, not its value. Housing is a perfect example - it increases in price at the same rate at which the dollar is devalued through supply increase.
One way the wealthy get around this is by taking on debt against their hard assets - generally real estate. As the price of their assets go up, they take out larger and larger loans, each time paying off the old loan and pocketing the difference tax free. The money is devalued faster than the interest rate, so even after paying interest, they are left with free money (our money), tax-free.