Opponents of proposed cuts in capital gains tax rates are once again trotting out old class warfare cliches rather than admit that rate relief would benefit a great number of Americans, tax reformers charge.

A new Congressional Budget Office study says:

• More than 30 million households now own stocks, bonds or money-market mutual funds, according to the Investment Company Institute.

• Including investment real estate and businesses, more than one-half of all families can find themselves subject to capital gains taxes.

• Some 56 percent of taxpayers who report capital gains have incomes of less than $40,000 -- with nine out of ten having less than $100,000 income.

• As of 1993, people over 65 realized almost one-third of all capital gains -- even though this group makes up only 12 percent of the population.

Moreover, those income figures overstate the amount those taxpayers actually earn every year because the capital gains are included in their total income.

• Capital gains overstate income by an average of 11 percent for taxpayers with less than $30,000 a year and 7 percent for those at middle-income levels.

• For those with incomes from $100,000 to $200,000, income is overstated by 11 percent -- and by 28 percent for those with incomes above $200,000.

Those who oppose indexing capital gains for inflation might want to consider the fact that only people with incomes above $200,000 saw real capital gains in 1993. The rest saw inflation grow faster than the prices of their assets.

Source: Perspective, "Cap Gains Myths," Investor's Business Daily, June 16, 1997.