Free Republic

According to S&P's latest Monthly Dividend Action Report [Excel spreadsheet], the month of November 2012 was a record month that saw some 3,327 U.S. companies make some kind of declaration involving their dividends (that's not the record!) Here are the astounding numbers: 197 companies acted to increase their cash dividend in the 8th best month on record (since January 2004), and the most in any November on record. The all-time record for regular dividend increases announced in a single month is 246, which was set in February 2007. 228 companies acted to make a special cash dividend payment to their...

President Obama will ask Congress to scrub the corporate tax code of dozens of loopholes and subsidies to reduce the top rate to 28 percent, down from 35 percent, while giving preferences to manufacturers that would set their maximum effective rate at 25 percent, a senior administration official said on Tuesday.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner offered a glimmer of hope to investors who are facing huge tax increases on capital gains and dividends next January. In a CNBC interview late Wednesday, Geithner said the Obama administration still hopes to hold the top tax rate on both capital gains and dividends to 20% next year – the level the White House has been proposing since taking office. Of course, a 20% rate would represent a big increase over the current 15%. But it’s a lot better than the 39.6% top rate for dividends that congressional Democrats have signaled they were planning next...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate revived the backbone of President Bush's formula for stimulating a laggard economy Thursday, narrowly passing a $350 billion package of tax cuts that would suspend all taxes on stock dividends for three years.</p> <p>The Republican bill, passed on a 51-49 mostly party-line vote, is less than half the size Bush sought but one that advances previously scheduled reductions in income tax rates, provides $20 billion in new aid to state and local governments and raises taxes for a few.</p>

Just saw. The Senate voted 51-50, with Cheney casting the tie-breaking vote, to pass the Nickles amendment which reinstitutes to the budget, for a period of three years, the elimination of double taxation on dividends.

Jimmy Liked It, Too Cutting taxes on dividends is an old Dem policy wish. President Bush's proposal to reduce taxes on corporate dividends is being attacked by Democrats as another give-away to the rich. But not too many years ago it was Democrats who were in favor of this policy and Republicans who were against it. In 1976, Democrat Jimmy Carter made elimination of the double taxation of corporate profits a key campaign theme. "We presently tax corporate income when it's earned and we also tax dividends to shareholders," he said. "I would favor taxing income only once," Carter told...

Already facing huge budget deficits, some state and local governments fear President Bush's plan to eliminate taxes on corporate dividends could end up costing them money they can't afford to lose. Because most states tie their income tax codes to the federal tax code, an end to federal dividend taxes could also result in a loss of state tax revenue. States could get hurt in another way, too: Bush's proposal could make stocks a more attractive investment than the bonds issued by states and municipalities for building schools, roads and other projects. To attract investors, local governments might have to...