The 1986 act taxed capital gains and wages equally

Evidence

However, there is one suggestion from progressive scholars that seems an easy and obvious first step: repeal the preferential rate for capital gains. The Tax Reform Act of 1986, heralded by Republican president Ronald Reagan, had as its centerpiece the idea that income from stocks should be taxed exactly as income from wages. Both wages and capital gains were taxed equally under the progressive tax system; there was no preferential rate. — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 489

Categorization

• XREF: An anchor fact worth checking against whatever she says about the Trump-era 2017 rates later; recent scholarship makes the claim contingent on holding-period and bracket details. — connects to: The 1990 budget deal restored the capital gains preference — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax…, 490
• SHARE: Share the fact that Reagan signed the last law taxing capital gains like wages with a tax-policy friend who knows the modern regime.