The Labyrinth of Capital Gains Tax Policy: A Guide for the Perplexed

Leonard E. Burman

doi:10.5771/9780815714958

Summary

Few issues in tax policy are as divisive as the capital gains tax. Should capital gains--the increase in value of assets such as stocks or businesses--be taxed at all? If so, when should they be taxed--when they are earned, or when they are realized? Should taxes be adjusted for inflation? And should gains be taxed at both the individual and corporate levels? In this book, Leonard Burman cuts through the political rhetoric to present the facts about capital gains. He begins by explaining the complex rules that govern the taxation of capital gains, examines the kinds of assets that produce them, and the factors that can lead to gains or losses. He then reviews the effects of capital gains taxation on saving and investment and considers the arguments for and against indexing capital gains taxes for inflation, as well as other options for altering the current system.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2010
Copyright year: 2010
ISBN-Print: 978-0-8157-1270-1
ISBN-Online: 978-0-8157-1495-8
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 196
Product type: Book Titles

1. CONTENTS No access
1 The Not-So-Great Debate No access Pages 1 - 8
2 How Capital Gains Are Taxed No access Pages 9 - 32
3 The Kinds of Assets That Produce Capital Gains No access Pages 33 - 41
4 How a Capital Gains Tax Differential Affects Saving and Investment No access Pages 42 - 66
5 How a Tax Preference Affects the Efficiency of Capital Allocation No access Pages 67 - 83
6 Who Has Capital Gains? No access Pages 84 - 118
7 Indexing Capital Gains for Inflation No access Pages 119 - 129
8 Alternative Ways of Taxing Capital Gains No access Pages 130 - 144
9 Beyond Caveman Tax Policy No access Pages 145 - 152
1. A: Schedule D and Instructions No access
2. B: How Saving and Investment Respond to Higher Rates of Return No access
3. C: The Fundamental Identifying Assumption behind Cross-Sectional Econometric Studies Is Invalid No access
4. D: Capitalization Effects of Lower Tax Rates on Capital Gains No access
5. E: Measuring and Mismeasuring the Welfare Gain to Individuals of Capital Gains Tax Cuts No access
Notes No access Pages 175 - 190
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