You're wrong. The long term capital gains tax rate in the U.S. is 15% for most people. The tax rate for "qualified" dividends (essentially, dividends on stock that you've held for awhile) is 15%. Starting in 2013, dividends will be taxed at your ordinary income tax rate (which is the way they used to be taxed), while long term capital gains will be taxed at 20%, which means that for most people, dividends will be more highly taxed than long term capital gains.