malibu.ron[at]verizon.net wrote:

- quote -

Holders of capital assets will be lucky if the maximum tax
rate on long term capital gains remains as low as 15%. There
is zero chance of that rate being reduced in the current
environment (fiscal and political).

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malibu.ron[at]verizon.net posted:

- quote -

No, not on any serious list. One principal reason is the
argument that _lower_ capital gains taxes result in a boost
to total taxes collected, as people sell investments which
they might otherwise have retained to avoid the
"confiscatory" capital gains tax.

There is a minor movement to completely eradicate "income"
taxes and replace them with a sales tax (The FairTax plan),
but this is not given much chance of happening.

Bill

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<malibu.ron[at]verizon.net> wrote
- quote -

To the extent that you are in one of the bottom two tax
brackets (10% or 15%) your tax on capital gains will be ZERO
in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

For the higher tax brackets, it's still going to be 15% on
capital gains as well as qualified dividends.

I wouldn't be looking for Congress to change that in the
future.

--
Paul Thomas, CPA
paulthomascpapc[at]bellsouth.net

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >

There was considerable talk about reducing or possibly eliminating the
long term capital gains tax. I would appreciate knowing where the
discussions are in Congress. Is this currently an agenda item.

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >