Obama's Capital Gains Tax

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


So, if you're taxed on your salary, you'll still work, but if you're taxed on your investments, you won't invest?

As I said, put your hard earned money on the chopping block, I'm sure it'll make sense then.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Ramo


Because the Presidency is a four year term...



From the ABC debate:


So it's clear that he wants to stabilize the market before raising CG rates.

But Ramo, that's the part that DD deliberately left out. How mean of you to bring it up!

[DinoDoc]

What'd that part have to do with the question in the OP?

[rmsharpe]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


So, if you're taxed on your salary, you'll still work, but if you're taxed on your investments, you won't invest?

So I'll get taxed on my salary which I'll use to invest to pay more taxes?

[DaShi]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
What'd that part have to do with the question in the OP?

Pretending to be an idiot. Good job!

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by DaShi
Pretending to be an idiot. Good job!

I bow before the master of that subject.

[DaShi]

Meh

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by SpencerH
Werent you planning to be a buddist monk or something? I'm not sure how that coincides with what appears to be your desire to use the CG tax rate to effect investment cash flow (primarily from the middle class). Is that out of the Marxist monk handbook?

The government fiddles with things to effect investment cash flow all the time (they are called "interest rates") and I don't see how greatly different that is than fiddling with the CG tax rates. Very few consider that Marxist.

[Theben]

Originally posted by rmsharpe
So I'll get taxed on my salary which I'll use to invest to pay more taxes?

W/o a CG tax, you can bet your last dollar you'll be taxed on your salary.

[Dauphin]

CGT is a long term tax. It is unlikely that an investment you make today will be taxed at the rate extant today, especially if you change the rates to match economic conditions. It has an effect on investment decisions, but I would have thought in the short term it's more about people wanting to sell out of the market than come into it.

So, cutting CGT rates when the market is falling is probably not a great way of buoying it up.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui


The government fiddles with things to effect investment cash flow all the time (they are called "interest rates") and I don't see how greatly different that is than fiddling with the CG tax rates. Very few consider that Marxist.

The government per se doesnt fiddle with the rates, the Federal Reserve, an independent arm of the government, does. What he alluded to is direct governmental control of the amount of investment money via changes to the CGT. Such changes primarily effect the choice of whether or not to invest made by small investors, not wealthy ones. I support the concept that a greater diversity of investors is good for the country in a variety of ways.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Ramo
He hasn't pinned himself down

Obama not pinning himself down on an issue? I find that hard to believe

[Kidlicious]

IMO the capital gains tax doesn't have much effect on the economy. I prefer a high tax though because I think that it will control swings in the market sometimes and raise revenue sometimes.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by SpencerH
The government per se doesnt fiddle with the rates, the Federal Reserve, an independent arm of the government, does. What he alluded to is direct governmental control of the amount of investment money via changes to the CGT. Such changes primarily effect the choice of whether or not to invest made by small investors, not wealthy ones. I support the concept that a greater diversity of investors is good for the country in a variety of ways.

You are playing semantics. The Fed Reserve, while "an independent arm" of the government, most definitely gets pressured by the executive and legislative branches based on political concerns. Only a few, like Chairman Volker, were really able to say screw off (Chairmen usually like another term).

How about the Fed gets to decide what the tax rate should be changed to? Then that's an independent arm of the government doing it.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui


You are playing semantics. The Fed Reserve, while "an independent arm" of the government, most definitely gets pressured by the executive and legislative branches based on political concerns. Only a few, like Chairman Volker, were really able to say screw off (Chairmen usually like another term).

I'd say the Fed was pretty independent under Greenspan.

How about the Fed gets to decide what the tax rate should be changed to? Then that's an independent arm of the government doing it.

I suggest you read that statement again, its one of the crazier ideas you've ever presented.