15% income tax? How is that possible?

[Sallow]

The capital gains tax rate is 15%. I'm not sure how you can declare that fact "bullshit". it's just a fact.

Shit..beat me to it.

 

[asterism]

They should toss the tax code out the window and revamp the whole thing. Everybody in America should pay taxes at the very same rate. Just for conversation, let's say everybody pays 10% federal income tax. No exemptions. No deductions. If you make $500 a year your tax is pretty simple. You pay $50.00. If you make $5,000 a year, here again, pretty simple. You pay $500 in federal income taxes. Regardless of your income, you pay 10%. This way, everybody has a dog in the hunt and everybody is taxed equally and fairly. I'm tired of hearing all the whining from Obama about the "rich not paying their fair share." The rich pay far more taxes than anybody else does in this country. Let's talk about at almost 50% of the population that pay no federal income taxes. Their free loading ride should be over before the so called rich pay more.

Good luck getting any Democrat (and most Republicans) to limit federal spending to 10% of all income in the US.

 

[asterism]

The capital gains tax rate is 15%. I'm not sure how you can declare that fact "bullshit". it's just a fact.

Shit..beat me to it.

Have you read the rest?

The only way to qualify for a personal tax rate of 15% the investor has to own shares of a corporation that pays between 34 and 39% corporate income tax.

Buffett's talking point that is oft repeated is complete bullshit.

 

[Flopper]

Americans pay about 17% of their income in income tax, so a 15% rate could be done if enough deductions and credits are eliminated. I'm not in favor of this, but it could be done.

 

[Sallow]

The capital gains tax rate is 15%. I'm not sure how you can declare that fact "bullshit". it's just a fact.

Shit..beat me to it.

Have you read the rest?

The only way to qualify for a personal tax rate of 15% the investor has to own shares of a corporation that pays between 34 and 39% corporate income tax.

Buffett's talking point that is oft repeated is complete bullshit.

First off..it's not bullshit.

Secondly there's plenty of ways to beat the tax man. There is "deferred income", there are stock awards, and all sorts of compensation schemes that hide income. All are perfectly legal as well.

If you have the money..hiring smarties to help you keep your dough ain't a problem.

 

[chikenwing]

If you have the money..hiring smarties to help you keep your dough ain't a problem.

Or you could say,the more you have the more you need to protect yourself from a predatory gov??!!

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

I've been hearing more and more of this nonsense that "the rich" only pay 15% of their income due to the low capital gains tax rates. Barring specific rare loopholes, how does someone who earns the bulk of their money through investing pay only this rate?

I think the talking point is bullshit, but I'll gladly admit I'm wrong if someone has some actual facts.

Everyone pays 15% of capital gains.

The rich pay more than the poor in Income taxes


What is happening is some dishonest people (warren buffet) are telling you the rich pay less in income taxes then the poor. What he is doing is claiming the capital gains tax is his personal income tax rate however he is lying when he says that.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040tt.pdf <----scroll to the bottom, page 98, and look at the tax tables. Its is plain as day that the more you make the higher a percentage of your income you pay in personal income taxes.


I didn't read any other posts but the first one in the thread, if you disagree with my assesment (anyone) feel free to bring it

 

[asterism]

Shit..beat me to it.

Have you read the rest?

The only way to qualify for a personal tax rate of 15% the investor has to own shares of a corporation that pays between 34 and 39% corporate income tax.

Buffett's talking point that is oft repeated is complete bullshit.

First off..it's not bullshit.

Yes it is. Buffett's money generating activities are subject to a 44.75% tax unless he takes advantage of loopholes he didn't tell us about in his screed. There is no denying this.

Secondly there's plenty of ways to beat the tax man. There is "deferred income", there are stock awards, and all sorts of compensation schemes that hide income. All are perfectly legal as well.

If you have the money..hiring smarties to help you keep your dough ain't a problem.

That's true.

But back to the bullshit line that the capital gains rate is too low at 15% and Buffett saying he is taxed at a lower rate than his Secretary.

 

[boedicca]

I've been hearing more and more of this nonsense that "the rich" only pay 15% of their income due to the low capital gains tax rates. Barring specific rare loopholes, how does someone who earns the bulk of their money through investing pay only this rate?

I think the talking point is bullshit, but I'll gladly admit I'm wrong if someone has some actual facts.

They only pay this amount if all of their income is long term capital gains...or they are hedge fund managers.

 

[asterism]

I've been hearing more and more of this nonsense that "the rich" only pay 15% of their income due to the low capital gains tax rates. Barring specific rare loopholes, how does someone who earns the bulk of their money through investing pay only this rate?

I think the talking point is bullshit, but I'll gladly admit I'm wrong if someone has some actual facts.

Everyone pays 15% of capital gains.

The rich pay more than the poor in Income taxes


What is happening is some dishonest people (warren buffet) are telling you the rich pay less in income taxes then the poor. What he is doing is claiming the capital gains tax is his personal income tax rate however he is lying when he says that.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040tt.pdf <----scroll to the bottom, page 98, and look at the tax tables. Its is plain as day that the more you make the higher a percentage of your income you pay in personal income taxes.


I didn't read any other posts but the first one in the thread, if you disagree with my assesment (anyone) feel free to bring it

For accuracy, I need to say you're incorrect. Personal capital gains from a qualified investment (basically, make a stock investment and then receive proceeds from it) are not subject to personal federal income tax.

However, it must be in a C-Corp and the gains are first taxed at 35% (over $18 Million).

 

[boedicca]

That's true.

But back to the bullshit line that the capital gains rate is too low at 15% and Buffett saying he is taxed at a lower rate than his Secretary.

Buffett is a hypocrite.

Most of his wealth is already shielded from taxes via charitable trusts. He thinks he know how to use his wealth better than does the government (and he's correct). But he wishes to deny the rest of us the same freedom.

Also, his advocacy of inheritance taxes benefits the insurance companies in which he has significant investments. Proceeds from Life Insurance policies are not subjected to punitive inheritance taxes.

 

[Paulie]

The capital gains tax rate is 15%. I'm not sure how you can declare that fact "bullshit". it's just a fact.

That's the capital gains rate of a personal realization of a long term investment. Corporate taxes are also paid on the gains but are paid before the investor is paid. The other way is to files as an S-Corporation where all income passes through to the owners and those earnings (even if left in the company) are all taxed at the personal income rate.

But the investor doesn't pay the corporate taxes, they only pay taxes on the income that is distributed to them via a realized gain.

As a shareholder in a company, you assume your part in the payment of the company's taxes. Not only does it affect your dividend, it affects your capital gain. If a company's tax rate was reduced, that newly added amount of earnings increases the company's stock price. And vice versa.

Corporate taxation is referred to as "double taxation" for this reason. The company you own a part of is taxed on its income, and then its shareholders are taxed on their dividend and capital gains.

 

[Skull Pilot]

They are not considered personal income. They are considered corporate income, taxed at the corporate income tax rate (currently 34-39% above $100K at the federal level).

um no.

one does not have to be a corp to pay capital gains.

Capital Gain Definition

What Does Capital Gain Mean?
1. An increase in the value of a capital asset (investment or real estate) that gives it a higher worth than the purchase price. The gain is not realized until the asset is sold. A capital gain may be short term (one year or less) or long term (more than one year) and must be claimed on income taxes. A capital loss is incurred when there is a decrease in the capital asset value compared to an asset's purchase price.

2. Profit that results when the price of a security held by a mutual fund rises above its purchase price and the security is sold (realized gain). If the security continues to be held, the gain is unrealized. A capital loss would occur when the opposite takes place.

1. Long-term capital gains are usually taxed at a lower rate than regular income. This is done to encourage entrepreneurship and investment in the economy.

Corporations do not pay capital gains tax. They pay income tax.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1120.pdf

A corp would pay capital gains if a asset sold by the corp was sold for more than it was purchased.

If a corp bought a building for 1 million and sold it years later for 2 million, then there would be a capital gains tax on 1 million plus any depreciation claimed on the property. It has nothing to do with corporate income tax.

 

[Ravi]

If you earn your income from investing you pay a lower rate than if you earn your income by laboring.

Not sure why people don't see the inherent unfairness of that.

 

[code1211]

The capital gains tax rate is 15%. I'm not sure how you can declare that fact "bullshit". it's just a fact.

That's the capital gains rate of a personal realization of a long term investment. Corporate taxes are also paid on the gains but are paid before the investor is paid. The other way is to files as an S-Corporation where all income passes through to the owners and those earnings (even if left in the company) are all taxed at the personal income rate.

But the investor doesn't pay the corporate taxes, they only pay taxes on the income that is distributed to them via a realized gain.

Capital Gains is not like a straight income in the same way as a simple payroll would be.

My parents built a house in 1957 and the mortgage amount was $19,500. Two story home with full basement and walk out, four bedrooms and on an acre of land.

Paying the monthly payment of 95.00 produced an overall cost of the house of around 35K. During th 40+ years they lived there, various things were done to improve including the addtion of a garage, hardwood floors installed by my faather throughout, the installation and removal of numerous rooms of carpeting, painting, siding, insulation furnaces, water heaters and on and on.

The point is that when the sale of the house occurred in the very early 90's, the purchase price was about 70K, give or take.

Was the gain in the capital actually 50K? Of course not. In the case of the sale of a private home/primary residence, CP is calcualted and taxed differently than a Warren Buffet-type transaction, but the point is that the income flow is generated differently and there are usually costs associated with CG that are not always associated with W-2.

 

[code1211]

I am still not sure how 40+% of the population pay no tax. Even welfare recipients should have to pay something. I like the flat tax. If I buy a $1,000 car I pay for the value if you buy a $100,000 car you pay 100 time more than I do.

40% of the population don't pay "no tax". Every American with a job pays between 7.65% and 15.3% of their first 106,000 of earnings in federal taxes. They also pay a host of other taxes.

While the excursion was fun, I think he was referring to Federal Income Tax.

 

[code1211]

They should toss the tax code out the window and revamp the whole thing. Everybody in America should pay taxes at the very same rate. Just for conversation, let's say everybody pays 10% federal income tax. No exemptions. No deductions. If you make $500 a year your tax is pretty simple. You pay $50.00. If you make $5,000 a year, here again, pretty simple. You pay $500 in federal income taxes. Regardless of your income, you pay 10%. This way, everybody has a dog in the hunt and everybody is taxed equally and fairly. I'm tired of hearing all the whining from Obama about the "rich not paying their fair share." The rich pay far more taxes than anybody else does in this country. Let's talk about at almost 50% of the population that pay no federal income taxes. Their free loading ride should be over before the so called rich pay more.

I agree with the idea that everyone needs to pay tax. If you take the ride, you need to buy a ticket.

I'm not sure that ten percent gets us home, though. I've heard that our economy generates enough money to support the government of 2008 at a 20% carve out of GDP.

The Big 0's additions to spending raise that 25%. Again, I've "heard" this and have no link for it.

So, if we decide that 20% of the GDP is what we need to allocate to the lying swindlers we put in charge of it, then we need to determine how to deliver that amount to them to bribe us and buy our love.

Right now, the system is so gamed, there is no way to predict the outcome. Simpler is better.

 

[code1211]

The capital gains tax rate is 15%. I'm not sure how you can declare that fact "bullshit". it's just a fact.

Shit..beat me to it.

Another "fact" is that the Sun rises in the East and, yet, it's not true.

Go figure.

 

[code1211]

Shit..beat me to it.

Have you read the rest?

The only way to qualify for a personal tax rate of 15% the investor has to own shares of a corporation that pays between 34 and 39% corporate income tax.

Buffett's talking point that is oft repeated is complete bullshit.

First off..it's not bullshit.

Secondly there's plenty of ways to beat the tax man. There is "deferred income", there are stock awards, and all sorts of compensation schemes that hide income. All are perfectly legal as well.

If you have the money..hiring smarties to help you keep your dough ain't a problem.

Beat the Tax Man? You're delusional. You're playing the game that the tax man has created, made the rules for, referees and commissions. If you are playing the game, you are getting took. The tax man is taking your money that you have earned and if he lets you keep more than he originally demanded, you feel like you won.

You can't even deduct the lubricant.

That aside, though, the FACT that the the game is rigged to allow the wealthy to delude themselves into thinking that they can win is just part of the swindle.

When Ronnie and Tip cut all the taxes and eliminated most of the deductions, that was a step in the right direction.

Since that time, the swindling thieves in Washington have implemented more than one deduction per day to the tax code every day, including weekends for almost 30 years.

Even if you're a Democrat, that has to be impressively scary.

 

[code1211]

If you earn your income from investing you pay a lower rate than if you earn your income by laboring.

Not sure why people don't see the inherent unfairness of that.

Sounds like the work of lawyers to me. Take out all of the deductions and let it roll.