The Top 0.1% Of The Nation Earn Half Of All Capital Gains

[L. Coyote]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertlenzner/2011/11/20/the-top-0-1-of-the-nation-earn-half-of-all-capital-gains/

Capital gains are the key ingredient of income disparity in the US– and the force behind the winner takes all mantra of our economic system. If you want even out earning power in the U.S, you have to raise the 15% capital gains tax.

[Scuba]

1. How about a sliding scale based on how long you've held the asset?...

Keeping it invested longer would reduce tax liability, while "flipping" assets results in higher and higher rates as time held goes down.


Can anyone with a little expertise comment (a little being more than I have)? How are current capital gains rates set?

Could such a sliding scale help the economy?

[N7Shepard]

4. Well if they are flipped in under a year they are taxed as ordinary. Over a year and they

are taxed at the 15% rate.

What is even worse is they aren't even subject to FICA... so even if you're DIRT POOR you get 7.65% (assuming the SS tax cut goes away) right off the top. In addition to state and federal income taxes. Some would even argue that you lose out on 7.65% x 2 because of the employer FICA contribution.

[Scuba]

5. So if they had to be held for say, 10 years....

... to nudge the tax rate down from 35% to 15%, would that encourage re-investing and stimulate the economy?

[XemaSab]

7. That might penalize the middle class

Rich people can afford to sit on an asset for decades, even if the market takes a crap.

People in the middle class seem more likely to take a chunk out of their 401K if something unexpected comes up, like a health crisis.

[CJCRANE]

2. K&R.

[JHB]

3. I don't know that it's THE key ingredient...

It's one of the big ones, but there's no need to discount the others.

[Warren Stupidity]

6. Something like 400 individuals own 60% of the wealth of this nation.

That is a seriously small number, on one side, and a insanely huge number on the other.

Oligarchy (from Greek ὀ??????ί?, oligarkhía - "rule of the few"[1]) is a form of social organization in which political power is primarily held by a wealthy elite, who comprise a small minority of the population, and who use this power primarily to serve their own class interests.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy