With an IRA, the penalties for withdrawals are so serious that they are incentive to buy and hold. Also, with an LTRA, you have to choose exactly the right assets. You need stocks with low dividends, of course, but also stocks of solid, established companies that have a good chance to thrive for another 20 or 30 years. The objective is not to sell. With an LTRA, that's tricky because most funds aren't managed with the tax liabilities of shareholders in mind.
Managers earn their bonuses and their reputations on pretax results.
The reason is that the fund sold stocks with gains but held on to stocks with losses. This strategy may be smart, but the trouble is that taxpaying shareholders are completely at the mercy of the fund manager. Even a fund that simply passes along its capital gains to shareholders each year creates a bigger tax liability than an investor who never sells would face. Still, some funds, by their nature, generate lower capital gains. Unfortunately, few funds fill this bill, so some compromise is necessary.