5 ms·

most countries in the developed world dont have special carve outs for capital gains and tax them as ordinary income

by DiNovi 5y ago

jandrewrogers 5y ago
This is false, as any who knows how to use Google can attest to.
- Dah00n 5y ago
  For those of us that apparently don't know how to use Google could you share to add something interesting to the discussion?
  - jandrewrogers 5y ago
    Virtually every country in the developed world has much lower LTCG taxes than income taxes. It is so ubiquitous that I'm not even aware of a counter-example. Quite a few countries in western Europe have lower max LTCG rates than Silicon Valley has today. Instead of making a low-effort post, you could have done a single Google search with any of the obvious keywords and discovered this yourself.
    - gamblor956 5y ago
      Tax lawyer here. Virtually every country in the developed world has much lower LTCG taxes than income taxes. It is so ubiquitous that I'm not even aware of a counter-example. Quite a few countries in western Europe have lower max LTCG rates than Silicon Valley has today. That's simply false. The US has the lowest effective individual capital tax rates in the world outside of tax shelter countries. When I was at a firm, I had many (former EU) clients who came to the US who marveled at how low our taxes were here in CA compared to what they were paying at home.
      - ac29 5y ago
        That isnt the point, the point was that capital gains taxes are lower than general income taxes. For example in Germany its 25% capital gains vs 42% general income (the latter is a progressive rate, but 42% starts at 58k/116k eur single/married). Yes, those rates are higher than the US, but capital gains taxes are lower than wage income taxes. https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/germany/individual/income-determination https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/germany/individual/income-deter...
        gamblor956 5y ago
        No, his point was trying to claim that the U.S. has higher rates than other Western countries, and that was simply false. (Yes, capital gains rates are generally lower than normal income rates everywhere in the world, but the rest of the world also defines capital gains more narrowly than the U.S. does, and for example, sales of startup stock would likely not qualify for cap gains treatment in Germany).
      - harryh 5y ago
        > The US has the lowest effective individual capital tax rates in the world outside of tax shelter countries. The capital gains rate in the UK is 20%. https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax/rates https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax/rates The top capital gains rate in the US is 23.8% + state taxes.
        gamblor956 5y ago
        The top US capital gains tax is 20%. The 3.8% is a separate tax... That being said, I'm taking about effective (i.e. Actual tax liabilities) and you are all focusing on theoretical liabilities without understanding that the tax bases are different. It's honestly not worth the effort to keep correcting all the GUD in this thread.
        harryh 5y ago
        > The top US capital gains tax is 20%. The 3.8% is a separate tax A tax on, among other things, capital gains. See: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/questions-and-answers-on-the-net-investment-income-tax https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/questions-and-answers-on-the-ne... "8. What is included in Net Investment Income? In general, investment income includes, but is not limited to: interest, dividends, capital gains..."
    - Dah00n 5y ago
      It wasn't meant to be snarky, though I can see how it could be seen that way. I still can't find any data to back up your claim though so yet again I ask that you share it instead of just claiming that is how it is.
    - AnimalMuppet 5y ago
      I'm not taking a position on the truth or falsehood of the claim. But if you're writing a post, and you make a claim, and your readers have to look it up, that's a net waste of time. There's one writer, and many readers. Writers should supply the data, not make everyone else do the search.

most countries in the developed world dont have special carve outs for capital gains and tax them as ordinary income

by DiNovi 5y ago

most countries in the developed world dont have special carve outs for capital gains and tax them as ordinary income

jandrewrogers 5y ago

This is false, as any who knows how to use Google can attest to.

Dah00n 5y ago
For those of us that apparently don't know how to use Google could you share to add something interesting to the discussion?
- jandrewrogers 5y ago
  Virtually every country in the developed world has much lower LTCG taxes than income taxes. It is so ubiquitous that I'm not even aware of a counter-example. Quite a few countries in western Europe have lower max LTCG rates than Silicon Valley has today. Instead of making a low-effort post, you could have done a single Google search with any of the obvious keywords and discovered this yourself.
  - gamblor956 5y ago
    Tax lawyer here. Virtually every country in the developed world has much lower LTCG taxes than income taxes. It is so ubiquitous that I'm not even aware of a counter-example. Quite a few countries in western Europe have lower max LTCG rates than Silicon Valley has today. That's simply false. The US has the lowest effective individual capital tax rates in the world outside of tax shelter countries. When I was at a firm, I had many (former EU) clients who came to the US who marveled at how low our taxes were here in CA compared to what they were paying at home.
    - ac29 5y ago
      That isnt the point, the point was that capital gains taxes are lower than general income taxes. For example in Germany its 25% capital gains vs 42% general income (the latter is a progressive rate, but 42% starts at 58k/116k eur single/married). Yes, those rates are higher than the US, but capital gains taxes are lower than wage income taxes. https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/germany/individual/income-determination https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/germany/individual/income-deter...
      - gamblor956 5y ago
        No, his point was trying to claim that the U.S. has higher rates than other Western countries, and that was simply false. (Yes, capital gains rates are generally lower than normal income rates everywhere in the world, but the rest of the world also defines capital gains more narrowly than the U.S. does, and for example, sales of startup stock would likely not qualify for cap gains treatment in Germany).
    - harryh 5y ago
      > The US has the lowest effective individual capital tax rates in the world outside of tax shelter countries. The capital gains rate in the UK is 20%. https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax/rates https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax/rates The top capital gains rate in the US is 23.8% + state taxes.
      - gamblor956 5y ago
        The top US capital gains tax is 20%. The 3.8% is a separate tax... That being said, I'm taking about effective (i.e. Actual tax liabilities) and you are all focusing on theoretical liabilities without understanding that the tax bases are different. It's honestly not worth the effort to keep correcting all the GUD in this thread.
        harryh 5y ago
        > The top US capital gains tax is 20%. The 3.8% is a separate tax A tax on, among other things, capital gains. See: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/questions-and-answers-on-the-net-investment-income-tax https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/questions-and-answers-on-the-ne... "8. What is included in Net Investment Income? In general, investment income includes, but is not limited to: interest, dividends, capital gains..."
  - Dah00n 5y ago
    It wasn't meant to be snarky, though I can see how it could be seen that way. I still can't find any data to back up your claim though so yet again I ask that you share it instead of just claiming that is how it is.
  - AnimalMuppet 5y ago
    I'm not taking a position on the truth or falsehood of the claim. But if you're writing a post, and you make a claim, and your readers have to look it up, that's a net waste of time. There's one writer, and many readers. Writers should supply the data, not make everyone else do the search.