Thread by @ChuckCBPP

Dusting off this paper from @dashching and me from the last time capital gains taxes were hotly debated. More to follow but here’s a quick thread on some of the still applicable content.

bit.ly/3dLHusw

As top tax economist Joel Slemrod summed it up during the Bush tax cut debate: “there is no evidence that links aggregate economic performance to capital gains tax rates.”

And from another top tax economist, @lenburman, who wrote the book on capital gains: “Virtually every individual income tax shelter is devoted to converting fully taxed income into capital gains.”

When the Bush tax cuts lowered the century long practice of taxing dividends at ordinary rates, what happened?: Danny Yagan, another top economist, found: it “caused zero change in corporate investment and employee compensation”

I would respectfully suggest that tax reporters dig into some of this research and talk to some of these top economists before simply quoting the usual cast of supply-siders who will say the world is going to end, because, hmm, it won’t.

Also, to repeat from yesterday, stories on this topic should convey a clear picture of the current situation. The wealthiest people in the country do not pay taxes on a major source of their income each year and when they do they pay at a discount.

& currently, a lifetime of income tax liability can be erased when wealthy people die. President Biden is expected to end this erasure & propose that wealthy people pay at the same rates as others when they pay – But, he is leaving in place deferral which is a huge tax advantage

How huge? Open this paper and search “Warren Buffett” and “Steve Jobs”
End

bit.ly/2QiXY2n