Yup, because it would be non-sensical to do anything else. </p>
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Not at all. You pay taxes on income because you had income. In my example, you had no income. The stock’s purchasing power is exactly what it was previously; in real terms, no gain. Wages are gain, whether they have declined in real terms due to inflation or risen due to deflation. </p>
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I’m an old-fashioned liberal, and I think bad things come from taxing income derived from capital more favorably than income from working. But, in the interests of fairness, I think we should tax REAL capital gains and not nominal gains, and we should tax those gains at the same rates as someone who worked for the money (and not a reduced rate). </p>
<p>My plan is to die in order to get the basis step up. I’ve been told there’s no other option. </p>
<p>No, but they could do it in Austin, which is also considered one of the best places to live for young professionals and has a thriving film industry.</p>
<p>As someone who benefited from the cap gains laws and carried interest laws, I can say that nothing is contributing to income inequality in this country more than the idea that investment should be taxed lower than income. It creates class differences in terms of money and earning potential and, most importantly, acquiring wealth. The wealthy should not pay lower taxes, but raising income taxes is absolutely not an incentive to pay the labor class better.</p>
<p>Raising gains taxes incentivizes wealth sharing. If I’m either going to have to pay my workers more or pay the government more, I will pay my workers more. Better return on investment. They will pay more in taxes, too, which means everybody wins.</p>
<p>Acting like somebody should feel wealthy when they don’t because others are living on LESS is backwards. What we should want, in my opinion, is for MORE people to be earning 200K a year, not for the people earning the 200K to feel rich because what used to be a large and true middle class in this country is slowly slipping into lower middle class. Just because real incomes aren’t rising for the middle class doesn’t mean those who are upper middle class are lying about it. Upper income in this country isn’t what it used to be, and a very, very few people are hording the wealth and telling us “hey, be happy you aren’t making 50K. 50K is middle class folks.” No, it’s middle income. </p>
<p>Middle income isn’t middle class,and the sooner we stop letting this slip away from us, the better off we will ALL be.</p>
<p>Raise taxes on cap gains and you will get raises in labor pay. They say you won’t, but they are lying. They’d rather pay their workers more than Uncle Sam. </p>
<p>That’s right. And if the indexed brackets are working as they should, your real income tax will not increase. Because you’re making the same real income.</p>
<p>But, my stock that went up 3% in the same time frame will have me paying taxes, even though I made zero real money on it. </p>
<p>Listen, old buddy, let’s just agree that we view this differently. </p>
<p>@GMTplus7 , as Warren would be the first to agree. I take the liberty of calling him by his first name; the only individual stock we voluntarily own is Berkshire Hathaway. :)</p>
<p>It’s a huge ruse this idea of how cap gains works. So much of the higher income in this country is categorized as cap gains. But, the average guy just doesn’t know this. </p>
<p>@hayden, the transition could get messy, since the old losses should probably be worth more, but for argument’s sake, let’s assume that carryforward losses incurred in the past are not adjusted. As it is, brokerages are now required to track basis for each lot of stock. Inflation adjusting that shouldn’t be too much extra processing when it’s reported on sales. </p>
<p>Dallas has facilities for filming. They also give tax breaks for production in Dallas. Atlanta, Georgia…ditto, Canada ditto…With exception of Canada and New York…that is the minor leagues. Not even triple A. </p>
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