10 Things You Need to Know About the Capital Gains Tax

You can get a head start preparing for Congress’s upcoming debate on the capital gains tax by reviewing our new chart book, 10 Things You Need to Know About the Capital Gains Tax.

Those ten things are:

1. Capital gains tax rates are the lowest since the Great Depression.
2. There’s no evidence that a low capital gains tax rate boosts the stock market, investment, or the economy.
3. A large share of capital gains is never subject to capital gains tax.
4. Capital gains are highly concentrated at the top.
5. The benefits of preferential tax rates for capital gains and dividends go overwhelmingly to the highest-income taxpayers.
6. The 2003 cut in the capital gains rate was highly regressive.
7. The capital gains tax preference is a major reason why the tax code violates the “Buffett rule.”
8. Tax preferences for capital gains are inequitable.
9. Tax preferences for capital gains are costly.
10. Raising capital gains rates would have little or no impact on most elderly households.