Every economic theory – even socialism and Marxism – agrees that saving and investment (a.k.a., capital formation) are a key to long-run growth and higher living standards. Yet the tax code penalizes with double taxation those who are willing to forego current consumption to finance future prosperity. This new Center for Freedom and Prosperity video explains why the capital gains tax should be abolished.
Unfortunately, Obama wants to go in the wrong direction. He wants to boost the official capital gains tax rate from 15 percent to 20 percent – and that is after imposing a back-door 3.8 percentage point increase in the tax rate as part of his government-run healthcare scheme.
Share this post with your friends and neighbors. If enough people understand why the capital gains tax is a job killer that reduces American competitiveness, perhaps the wrong thing won’t happen.
Shouldn’t you add a qualifier of “when the government generates revenue exclusively through a consumption tax”? Given that US government revenues a primarily driven by income taxes, a zero capital gains rate would allow some to restructure their income to benefit from this shifting the burden to other who do not have this option.
Given our current tax structure, I would rather see corporate & estate taxes set to zero, and all personal taxes (income, payroll, dividend, REAL capital gains) taxed at a flat rate. This would promote retaining capital as investment while not favoring income based it’s form.
This achieves 5 of 6 bullet points with the exception of privacy. However, since we would still have the IRS, you’d still have privacy issues if you just zero out the capital gains tax. If we instead zero out corporate income taxes, we would gain the advantage of fairness by income format
Just a thought…
[...] right capital gains tax, of course, is [...]
[...] right capital gains tax, of course, is [...]
[...] right capital gains tax, of course, is zero. jQuery('#lazyload_post_0 img').lazyload({placeholder: [...]
[...] right capital gains tax, of course, is [...]
[...] right capital gains tax, of course, is [...]
[...] do you think? Should capital gains at least be indexed to inflation like our other taxes? The right capital gains tax, of course, is [...]
[...] to point out that he didn’t understand tax policy. The 15 percent tax rates on dividends and capital gains to which he presumably was referring represents double taxation, and when added to the tax that [...]
[...] revenues continuing to rapidly climb even as tax rates approach 100 percent. This creates a huge bias against good tax policy, yet JCT is impervious to evidence that its approach is wildly flawed. And don’t forget that [...]
[...] October 17, 2010 by Dan Mitchell Here are a handful of the posters being used in the United Kingdom to fight the perversely-destructive proposal to increase tax rates on capital gains. (for an explanation of why the tax should be abolished, see here) [...]
[...] Here are a handful of the posters being used in the United Kingdom to fight the perversely-destructive proposal to increase tax rates on capital gains. (for an explanation of why the tax should be abolished, see here) [...]
[...] Here are a handful of the posters being used in the United Kingdom to fight the perversely-destructive proposal to increase tax rates on capital gains. (for an explanation of why the tax should be abolished, see here) [...]
[...] October 17, 2010 by Dan Mitchell Here are a handful of the posters being used in the United Kingdom to fight the perversely-destructive proposal to increase tax rates on capital gains. (for an explanation of why the tax should be abolished, see here) [...]
[...] Here are a handful of the posters being used in the United Kingdom to fight the perversely-destructive proposal to increase tax rates on capital gains. (for an explanation of why the tax should be abolished, see here) [...]
Wasn’t the capital gains tax much higher in the 1980s and 1990s when the stock market grew at far faster rate than it did during the 2000s with the lower capital gains tax rate?
You guys on the “right” have a lot of theories, but the results do not back up your theories.
[...] high, but that is just one of the layers of taxation imposed by the internal revenue code. Both the capital gains tax and the tax on dividends result in corporate income being taxed at least two [...]
[...] high, but that is just one of the layers of taxation imposed by the internal revenue code. Both the capital gains tax and the tax on dividends result in corporate income being taxed at least two [...]
[...] omission. Given that a single dollar of income can be hit by several layers of tax – capital gains tax, corporate income tax, double tax on dividends, and death tax, this is not a trivial [...]
[...] tax rates, higher payroll tax rates, an expanded alternative minimum tax, a renewed death tax, a higher capital gains tax, more double taxation of dividends, or some other way of extracting money, the goal is to have [...]
[...] my video on class warfare, I noted that Obama in 2008 said he wanted to raise the capital gains tax even if the government lost [...]
[...] Perry flat tax gets rid of the death tax, the capital gains tax, and the double tax on dividends. This would significantly reduce the discriminatory and punitive [...]
[...] Perry prosaic taxation gets absolved of a death tax, a capital gains tax, and a double taxation on dividends. This would significantly revoke a discriminatory and punitive [...]
[...] Simply stated, the federal government largely leaves you unmolested if you consume your after-tax income, but there are as many as four extra layers of tax on income that is saved and invested (a point I also discuss in this video on the capital gains tax). [...]
[...] Simply stated, the federal government largely leaves you unmolested if you consume your after-tax income, but there are as many as four extra layers of tax on income that is saved and invested (a point I also discuss in this video on the capital gains tax). [...]
Dan Mitchell, you are a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. I have been searching websites since I started writing for examiner.com on November 12. At last I have found the place where I can receive the economic education I so desperately need. But what may be more important, I can share your videos with anyone (and everyone) and know that your message will be clearly understood. Thank-you! You are a true patriot!
[...] the IRS will probably be grabbing some portion of that additional wealth because of income taxes, capital gains taxes, and double taxation of [...]
[...] I made many of the same points in my video on capital gains taxation. [...]
[...] I made many of the same points in my video on capital gains taxation. [...]
[...] isn’t just some abstract issue about competitiveness. As I explain in this video, every single economic theory – even Marxism and socialism – agrees that saving and [...]
[...] isn’t just some abstract issue about competitiveness. As I explain in this video, every single economic theory – even Marxism and socialism – agrees that saving and [...]
[...] Amen. John is exactly right. He’s making the same arguments I put forward in my video on capital gains taxation. [...]
[...] to think about with the President proposing big increases in the double taxation of capital gains. And something to consider since he wants America to have the highest level of dividend double [...]
[...] nothing remotely close to the punitive tax laws that America has for interest, dividends, capital gains, and [...]
[...] 2. Or look at this chart showing the extensive double taxation in our tax code, as well as these international comparisons of how America over-taxes dividends and capital gains. [...]
[...] 2. Or look at this chart showing the extensive double taxation in our tax code, as well as these international comparisons of how America over-taxes dividends and capital gains. [...]
[...] Tory-Lib Dem coalition is similarly bad. In recent years, the capital gains tax has been increased (see these amusing posters to understand why this was a foolish idea), along [...]
[...] anybody think American competitiveness will improve if we have the highest capital gains tax in the industrialized [...]
[...] For more information, here’s my video explaining that the right capital gains tax rate is zero. [...]
[...] For more information, here’s my video explaining that the right capital gains tax rate is zero. [...]
[...] Amen. John is exactly right. He’s making the same arguments I put forward in my video on capital gains taxation. [...]
[...] actions identified by the Washington Post are not necessarily immoral. A politician who supports a lower capital gains tax rate, for instance, presumably will benefit directly because of less double taxation on his investments [...]
[...] said in 2008 that – for reasons of “fairness” – he wanted to raise the capital gains tax even if the government lost [...]
[...] actions identified by the Washington Post are not necessarily immoral. A politician who supports a lower capital gains tax rate, for instance, presumably will benefit directly because of less double taxation on his investments [...]
[...] I noted that Obama said in 2008 that – for reasons of “fairness” – he wanted to raise the capital gains tax even if the government lost [...]
[...] I noted that Obama said in 2008 that – for reasons of “fairness” – he wanted to raise the capital gains tax even if the government lost [...]
[...] you don’t want double taxation, the capital gains tax rate in Jersey is zero. That’s a lot better than the United Kingdom (though the rate there is now [...]
[...] I want to get rid of the double taxation of dividends and capital gains in part because these reforms will boost business [...]
[...] I want to get rid of the double taxation of dividends and capital gains in part because these reforms will boost business [...]
[...] My video elaborates on all these issues and explains why the right capital gains tax rate is zero. [...]
[...] My video elaborates on all these issues and explains why the right capital gains tax rate is zero. [...]
[...] Tory-Lib Dem coalition is similarly bad. In recent years, the capital gains tax has been increased (see these amusing posters to understand why this was a foolish idea), along [...]
[...] was bad on tax policy in 1993, but was good on almost everything else (including a cut in the capital gains tax rate in 1997), whereas George W. Bush was okay on tax policy, but was bad on just about everything [...]
[...] In a consumption-base world, there’s no double taxation and the capital gains tax therefore doesn’t exist. But from the perspective of the Haig-Simons tax base, the fact that capital gains are taxed at [...]
[...] is excessive, then how does it make sense to increase the corporate tax burden? To impose a capital gains tax? Or to levy a tax on financial [...]
[...] tax rates would be reduced to 25 percent and many forms of double taxation like the death tax and capital gains tax presumably would be reduced or [...]
[...] Tory-Lib Dem coalition is similarly bad. In recent years, the capital gains tax has been increased (see these amusing posters to understand why this was a foolish idea), along [...]
[...] one partial exception to this relationship between good tax policy and long-run tax revenue is the capital gains tax. Lowering that levy can cause big changes to short-run revenue because investors have complete [...]
[...] I noted that Obama said in 2008 that – for reasons of “fairness” – he wanted to raise the capital gains tax even if the government lost [...]
[...] the current system is very biased against capital formation because of the combined impact of capital gains taxes, corporate income taxes, double taxes on dividends, and death [...]