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President Trump opened the door this week to a capital gains tax cut, saying he's "seriously" considering it as a way to help the U.S. economy recover from coronavirus-induced recession. “We’re looking at also considering a capital gains tax cut, which would create a lot more jobs,” Trump said Monday during White House press briefing. “So we're looking very seriously at a capital gains tax cut and also at an income tax cut for middle-income families." Trump cannot use executive authority to slash the 20% long-term capital gains rate without Congress, but he could try to bypass Congress and lower...

As a former staffer for President Reagan, I know the complex difficulty of reforming the tax code. In 1986, Reagan and his team delivered the last major tax reform legislation. To achieve success today, President Trump and his allies will need the same wit, charm, and patience Reagan demonstrated. Thankfully, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) is showing some of the smarts it takes to make tax reform a real possibility. On Thursday, faced with the hot potato issue of carried interest, Brady proposed a middle ground. His amendment, accepted by the Ways and Means Committee,...

Bill Gates said investment gains should be taxed at the same level as ordinary income — a bold call for one of the world's largest investors. Speaking Monday on CNBC's "Squawk Box," Gates said that he's "pleased" that there is more discussion around changing the tax code. When asked what he would alter, Gates sided with his pal Warren Buffett and said he supports raising the earned income tax credit. But Gates also said he would raise the tax rate for capital gains — the largest source of income for the richest Americans. The current top tax rate on capital...

The late, great Jack Kemp, an architect of the Reagan tax cuts, used to say, "Without capital, capitalism is just another ism." Capital is the plants, the machinery, the computers and trucks that businesses invest in to become productive and efficient providers of goods and services. So it's strange that last week Hillary Clinton declared war on capital with her plan to nearly double the capital gains rate for investments held less than six years. The capital gains tax rate fell to 15 percent in the George W. Bush years, was raised 23.8 percent under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton...

Hillary Rodham Clinton plans later this week to propose raising capital gains taxes for some investors, pivoting from a 2008 pledge not to increase the rate beyond 20 percent. The policy is part of a larger effort by her campaign to encourage greater focus on longer-term economic growth rather than more immediate gains for investors-a priority for the liberal Democrats she’ll need in 2016. The new rates would be pegged to the duration of the investment, with short-term holdings taxed at a higher percentage. In remarks on Facebook, Clinton also expanded on a promise to pursue criminal prosecution of bad...

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Ignoring history, Obama falsely claims that raising the capital gains tax yields higher tax revenue The Washington Times recently reported:Obama’s State of the Union speech to include $320B tax hike proposalPresident wants capital gains rate, bank fees raisedPresident Obama will propose $320 billion in higher taxes in his State of the Union address, mostly by raising the rate on capital gains and closing tax loopholes for wealthier families, senior administration officials said Saturday.Previewing Mr. Obama’s State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday night, aides said the president will propose raising the top tax rate...

President Barack Obama is turning to his biggest television audience of the year to pitch tax increases on the wealthiest Americans and put the new Republican Congress in the position of defending top income earners over the middle class. As Obama continues to signal what he will propose during Tuesday's State of the Union address, senior administration officials said during the weekend that he will call for raising the capital gains rate on top income earners and eliminating a tax break on inheritances. The revenue generated by those changes would fund new tax credits and other cost-saving measures for middle-class...

President Obama proposes massive tax hikes on the wealthy and says the loopholes they exploit need closing. 28% capital gain taxes are only the beginning. Right before his State of the Union address to a Republican controlled Congress, President Obama has thrown down a tax gauntlet, with $320 billion in tax hikes. His signature ideas would make community college free, and would extend sick leave to working families. But his massive batch of tax hikes is unlikely to be met with applause, even though he has cleverly invoked Ronald Reagan’s name to sell yet another big capital gain rate hike.

Could Sterling look to treating the sale as an involuntary conversion under Section 1033 of the tax code?  Basically the code section allows in cases where property is compulsorily or involuntarily converted  – the owner can have nonrecognition of gain if he/she purchases replacement property (assuming of equal value).  The owner has basically two years after the close of the tax year in which the gain was made to buy replacement property. Translation – Sterling could seek to claim that his property (ownership of the Clippers) was compulsorily or involuntarily converted (being forced to sell it by the NBA) under...

After a parliamentary inquiry, Germany has clarified its position on Bitcoin. The federal ministry of finance recognized Bitcoins as “units of account”—the cryptocurrency is therefore be considered as “private money”. That’s why, according to Die Welt, the government stated that there wouldn’t be a tax exemption on commercial activities that use Bitcoins. In addition to paying capital gains tax, Bitcoin users should now pay sales tax (VAT) as well. Member of Parliament Frank Schaeffler considers Bitcoin mining as private money creation, and says that the same fiscal and legal rules should apply to Euros and Bitcoins. Yet, it is still...

My dad is in a nursing home and we need to sell his house to pay expenses. We have researched the tax laws and apparently, the threshold is $250K for capital gains. Anything above $250K is taxed at the capital gains rate. What is is now, 28%? This seems unreasonable but apparently true. At one point, I thought that all value for the place of residence could be excluded. Or the threshold was very high. My dad is by no means rich and he has lived in the house fifty + years.

Wealth advisors say that with capital-gains taxes potentially going to 25 percent from 15 percent, and other possible increases in the dividend tax, estate tax and other taxes, many clients are selling now to save millions in taxes. If the Bush-era tax cuts expire, taxes on capital gains would revert back to its previous rate of 20 percent from its current 15 percent. Another 5 percent may be added from health-care levies and changes in itemized deductions, bringing the rate to 25 percent for many high earners. Taxes on dividends could go from 15 percent to over 43 percent. And...

France is sliding into a grave economic crisis and risks a full-blown “hurricane” as investors flee rocketing tax rates, the country’s business federation has warned. Francois Hollande is tightening fiscal policy by 2pc of GDP next year to meet EU deficit targets “The situation is very serious. Some business leaders are in a state of quasi-panic,” said Laurence Parisot, head of employers’ group MEDEF. “The pace of bankruptcies has accelerated over the summer. We are seeing a general loss of confidence by investors. Large foreign investors are shunning France altogether. It’s becoming really dramatic.” MEDEF, France’s equivalent of the CBI,...

France is sliding into a grave economic crisis and risks a full-blown “hurricane” as investors flee rocketing tax rates, the country’s business federation has warned. “The situation is very serious. Some business leaders are in a state of quasi-panic,” said Laurence Parisot, head of employers’ group MEDEF. “The pace of bankruptcies has accelerated over the summer. We are seeing a general loss of confidence by investors. Large foreign investors are shunning France altogether. It’s becoming really dramatic.” MEDEF, France’s equivalent of the CBI, said the threat has risen from “a storm warning to a hurricane warning”, adding that the Socialist...

One of the many false talking points of the Obama administration is that a rich man like Warren Buffett should not be paying a lower tax rate than his secretary. But anyone whose earnings come from capital gains usually pays a lower tax rate. How are capital gains different from ordinary income? Ordinary income is usually guaranteed. If you work a certain amount of time, you are legally entitled to the pay that you were offered when you took the job. Capital gains involve risk. They are not guaranteed. You can invest your money and lose it all. Moreover, the...

There are a lot of known unknowns about the new "Gang of Six" budget proposal. But conservatives should hold back from trashing it. Why? There's a large, pro-growth tax-reform piece in the plan that would lower tax rates across-the-board. This is a stunning reversal of the Obama Democrats' soak-the-rich, class-warfare campaign. The best part of the Gang of Six plan is a reduction in the top personal tax rate from 35% to a range of 23% to 29%. For businesses, the rate would drop in the same manner. And the corporate tax would be territorial rather than global, thereby avoiding...

The key to the Senate Gang of Six deficit-cutting grand bargain is the combination of higher tax revenue with lower tax rates. The former makes Democrats swoon and Republicans are sweet on the latter. The first date was a hit, with a surprising number of senators declaring their everlasting love and President Obama giving it his blessing on Tuesday. But just how much do the two sides know about their partner?

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...

Taxes: On the eve of President Obama's first State of the Union address, two Democratic congressmen are advising him to extend the Bush tax cuts instead of letting them expire. Now that's a stimulus. We hear that the administration is considering taking a more populist tack as it sails the choppy political waters of 2010. Some of President Obama's plans reportedly include several tax tidbits for the "middle class," including a doubling of the child care tax credit for families below $85,000 in income, and $1.6 billion for child care and a cap on student loan payments. Such transparent populism...

... Buried in Nancy Pelosi's health-care bill is a provision that will partially repeal tax indexing for inflation, meaning that as their earnings rise over a lifetime these youngsters can look forward to paying higher rates even if their income gains aren't real. In order to raise enough money to make their plan look like it won't add to the deficit, House Democrats have deliberately not indexed two main tax features of their plan: the $500,000 threshold for the 5.4-percentage-point income tax surcharge; and the payroll level at which small businesses must pay a new 8% tax penalty for not...