My understanding is that long term capital gains are added to total income. Then, after the tax on adjusted gross income is calculated, the tax on the capital gains is computed separately and added to the AGI tax. My understanding is that it is done this way because portions of the capital gains may be calculated at different tax rates. Is this correct? If it is correct, it appears to me that capital gains are taxed twice- once in the AGI calculation and then again during the separate capital gains tax calculation. What am I misunderstanding?
