I also think our approach to capital gains needs to be rethought. I understand why taxing capital gains as straight income is undesirable especially where the middle class is involved and where gains off home sales may be a factor. However, I wonder if a better option would be to allow capital gains to be folded into income going forward, amortized for the period of time the asset was held. So if you live in your home for 10 years and sell it at a capital gain of $500000, then you would add $50k to your reported income for the next 10 years following the sale. This would also privilege retirement accounts because at some point the amortization period would exceed life expectancy.
This would neatly address the issue of the super-wealthy paying a lower tax rate than the middle class, while continuing to favor retirement-oriented and long-held assets.