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Can someone explain why they are raising taxes specifically for stock-based-compensation and not for all high-income-compensation? What's so special about lawyers and bankers making hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash-compensation, that they deserve an exemption from these tax increases?

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Not to defend the bankers and lawyers, but they are taxed at the income tax rate which is much more than 1.5% more than capital gains.

In California capital gains are taxed as ordinary income. You don’t get any benefit at the state level for capital gains.

Also, under the new federal tax law, many lawyers are classifying their income as qualified business income so they pay much less than ordinary income. This is something that a software engineer working for a company couldn’t do.

When my stock vests, it is treated the same as my salary, and I get hit with an immediate income tax. Capital gains tax only kicks in afterwards, if I decide to hold on to the stock.

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