eflatminor
Classical Liberal
- May 24, 2011
- 10,643
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$0.02
Capital gains should be taxed as income.
A REALLY bad idea. Capital gains is already double taxed. Besides, taxing it as income would kill capital investments in this country and that's where jobs are created.
Corporations are people, my friend.
This has nothing to do with the point at hand.
...capital gains are not double taxed....
Wrong. The justification for a lower tax rate on capital gains relative to ordinary income is threefold: it is not indexed for inflation, it is a double tax, and it encourages present consumption over future consumption.
Why Capital Gains are taxed at a Lower Rate | Tax Foundation
Did it kill capital investment last time we taxed it as ordinary income?
First, the previous cap gains tax rate was 20%, not "ordinary income".
Moreover, if the tax has a sufficiently large impact on the incentive to invest and the incentive to sell appreciated assets, then it is quite possible that assumptions of higher tax revenue are misguided. Another key issue is the degree to which a capital gains tax impacts capital mobility in a world where many countries do not tax capital gains. This is especially true in an increasingly mobile world where most countries impose NO capital gains tax. Do you want even more capital invested overseas and not here? Increase the rate and you'll get it.