Do you believe capital gains taxes should be at the same rate as income taxes, higher, or lower?

Capital gains is taxes on investment income. Short term is usually treated like normal income. Long term, meaning you've held something like a stock for over a year before selling it is taxed at 15%. This is how many rich people pay less percentage of taxes than middle income people. Because most of their income comes not from labor but from investments.

Should an investment, letting your money do the work, be taxed lower or higher than the income one gets from actually working?

I think income should be lower, and capital gains higher.

The caveat is that traditional 401ks could be negatively impacted without other changes.