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Is it so crazy to want more tax to be collected, especially from the wealthiest who have recently benefited from a $1.5T tax cut? The federal deficit is in the
by telchar 8y ago
Is it so crazy to want more tax to be collected, especially from the wealthiest who have recently benefited from a $1.5T tax cut? The federal deficit is in the vicinity of a trillion dollars per year currently. Any tax avoidance by gigantic corporations and their wealthy shareholders rankles in this environment, regardless how easily explained.
Perhaps the capital gains rate should be raised to make buybacks equally attractive, tax-wise, to dividends. Perhaps it would spur investment over paydays.
- OscarCunningham 8y agoIf you want to increase taxes on the rich, why is it better to do it with capital gains tax rather than income tax? I'd prefer to target whichever factor correlates best with how much the person can afford to pay. A capital gains tax is bad by this analysis, because it also hits the retirement accounts of poorer folk. An income tax increase for high incomes would only affect the rich.
- telchar 8y agoI think your point is easily solved with a capital gains deduction or marginal rate, where the first X of annual (or averaged annual) gains are exempted. So a person selling $50,000 (or whatever) or more would see a higher rate, thus people withdrawing from their retirement account wouldn't be hit by an increase. The main reason I would increase the capital gains rate is the very richest, like Warren Buffet (as he himself pointed out), pay a lower rate than much less wealthy/lower income people due to the favorable capital gains rate. This sort of inversion shouldn't exist in a progressive tax system. Personally I view one of the several valid goals of a tax system to be keeping income/wealth inequality within reasonable limits and I think this would help with that.
- OscarCunningham 8y agoWhat about dropping corporation tax to 0% and then treating capital gains as income?