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David Stockman -abolish capital gains tax

RJKarl

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He went even further on Fareed Zakaria's show. David Stockman said ALL income should be treated the same.
 
Nope just all income is regular income on a graduated scale.
 
He went even further on Fareed Zakaria's show. David Stockman said ALL income should be treated the same.

Fucking brilliant. Let's chill investment in the American economy at a time when we're teetering on the brink of a double dip recession/depression.
 
One thing they should absolutely do it not allow people to paid via dividends.
 
mike, you've got to admit that it's pretty messed up that someone gets taxed less for giving their money to the pencil pushers than they do for a honest day's hard work. Let's invest in the American worker.

We're not going to solve unemployment with people just investing in the same old companies. Take that money and start new businesses.
 
One thing they should absolutely do it not allow people to paid via dividends.

Meaning that dividends should be treated as regular income and subject to FICA if the individual is under the limit.

I agree with this thought.
 
Despite my pretty darn liberal views on taxation, I disagree with this. I can see the justification for a lower capital gains tax rate than for ordinary income - I think it genuinely does stimulate investment. On the other hand, I don't think there should be any concept of a "qualified dividend." I just don't see the same justification - there are plenty of non-dividend paying companies that people invest in and I just don't see my clients with $30 million of KO stock selling because those quarterly dividends are now going to be taxed at ordinary income rates. On the third hand, I also don't think dividends should be subject to FICA/self-employment taxes (except in the case of the so-called "John Edwards loophole" - corporate tax guys correct me if I am wrong, but I just don't see this happening with C corps, except in very rare circumstances).
 
Despite my pretty darn liberal views on taxation, I disagree with this. I can see the justification for a lower capital gains tax rate than for ordinary income - I think it genuinely does stimulate investment. On the other hand, I don't think there should be any concept of a "qualified dividend." I just don't see the same justification - there are plenty of non-dividend paying companies that people invest in and I just don't see my clients with $30 million of KO stock selling because those quarterly dividends are now going to be taxed at ordinary income rates. On the third hand, I also don't think dividends should be subject to FICA/self-employment taxes (except in the case of the so-called "John Edwards loophole" - corporate tax guys correct me if I am wrong, but I just don't see this happening with C corps, except in very rare circumstances).

Except that the income left over to pay the dividend has already been taxed once at the corporate level. Cue the argument about corporate tax loopholes, but that's no reason to punish the shareholder that receives the dividend--fix the damn tax code first and then look at tax rates.
 
Except that the income left over to pay the dividend has already been taxed once at the corporate level. Cue the argument about corporate tax loopholes, but that's no reason to punish the shareholder that receives the dividend--fix the damn tax code first and then look at tax rates.

Double taxation is part and parcel of doing business as a C corp. I don't see it as "punishing" the shareholder. Shareholder is getting income, it doesn't matter whether that has been taxed once, twice, or thirty-seven times.
 
Despite my pretty darn liberal views on taxation, I disagree with this. I can see the justification for a lower capital gains tax rate than for ordinary income - I think it genuinely does stimulate investment. On the other hand, I don't think there should be any concept of a "qualified dividend." I just don't see the same justification - there are plenty of non-dividend paying companies that people invest in and I just don't see my clients with $30 million of KO stock selling because those quarterly dividends are now going to be taxed at ordinary income rates. On the third hand, I also don't think dividends should be subject to FICA/self-employment taxes (except in the case of the so-called "John Edwards loophole" - corporate tax guys correct me if I am wrong, but I just don't see this happening with C corps, except in very rare circumstances).

I thinkl one way to bridge some of these gaps would be to have a very high tax (50% or maybe more) on truly short term holdings.

Program traders who don't even look at which stock they are buying to make 1/8 of 1 point via the use of a computer program provide nothing to the market and can create unfair losses or even create bubbles.

If you hold a stock under six months, it should be taxed at 50%. I wouldn't even oppose higher taxe brackets for those held under three months, under a month and under a week.
 
Are you including options/derivatives in that short term idea?
 
mike, you've got to admit that it's pretty messed up that someone gets taxed less for giving their money to the pencil pushers than they do for a honest day's hard work. Let's invest in the American worker.

We're not going to solve unemployment with people just investing in the same old companies. Take that money and start new businesses.

I'm not saying it's not a legitimate issue. I'm saying that given the precarious state of our economy we can't afford to absorb the inevitable correction that will result if we do it now. I've said before that capital gains taxes should be tied to a person's income tax rate. Give say a 5% bonus. It allows capital gains to be taxed more fairly and still provides an incentive for people in all tax brackets to save and invest in the economy.
 
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