Washington Times:
Momentum is building at the White House for President Trump to cut capital gains taxes by executive order, allowing him to boost the economy without Congress, where House Democrats would be all but certain to block a legislative proposal.
Sources close to the White House confirm that the president is looking seriously at the idea of issuing an order to index capital gains to inflation, which would cut taxes for investors when they sell stock or real estate.
By taking such action soon, advocates in the White House argue, the economy would receive a significant boost before November 2020.
“It would be an enormous stimulus of new capital investment into the economy,” said economist Stephen Moore, a Trump ally and columnist for The Washington Times. “I think it would be one of the most stimulative things that Trump could do for the economy between now and Election Day.”
While the total impact isn’t known, Mr. Moore said, “you’re talking easily hundreds of billions of dollars.”
The risk politically is that an executive order could face a legal challenge. People familiar with the matter say the White House has not yet sought a legal opinion; President George H.W. Bush considered cutting capital gains taxes without Congress in 1992, but Treasury Department lawyers reportedly said the government lacked the authority.
Democrats criticized the anticipated action by Mr. Trump, calling it a giveaway to the wealthy. Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Cory A. Booker of New Jersey are calling for raising the capital gains tax.
“Donald Trump’s primary goal is to further slash taxes for himself and his wealthy political allies,” said Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee. “This would be plainly illegal. It would be outrageous to circumvent Congress to again cut the capital gains rate by indexing it to inflation. Republicans must be nervous about Donald Trump’s reelection chances if they are considering such a drastic step to continue looting the Treasury.”
According to the nonprofit Tax Foundation, indexing capital gains for inflation would cut taxes like this:
If a worker invested $5,000 in the stock market in the year 2000, and that investment had risen to $8,000 last year, current law calls for the investor to pay taxes on the entire $3,000 gain.
But most of the gain — about $2,100 — was due to inflation. By taxing only the $900 gain that wasn’t caused by inflation, the investor would pay a substantial lower tax.
Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of the conservative Job Creators Network, said the potential move “would be just the latest big victory for small businesses under the Trump administration.” MORE
TDS in 3…2…1…
Talk about injecting N2O through the Trump Turbo on U.S. Economy’s engine to kick that bad-boy beyond the boost threshold!
Amazing what can be accomplished when you put a Chief Executive in charge who has actually been extremely successful out in the real world. Past thirty six months market performance were merely prelude.
TWD
OMG, would I invest more if the take-out wasn’t taxed so much? YES!
“The risk politically is that an executive order could face a legal challenge.”
Could? If, by “could”, you mean “a 100% certainty it will be challenged in court”, then yes, it could.
Yea, but the Millionaires and Billionaires would reap all the benefits, stealing it from the middle class and the poor. What would happen to all the tax revenue that is brought from taxation on the upper class in our country?
Larry that’s not true. We’ll let the hundredthousandaires have some of the benefit. I mean, not all of them are gauche.
To quote JFK: “A rising tide lifts all boats” referring to the economy,
If you want to see our country soar suddenly, take out taxes on all Wall-Street trades, corporate and personal.
Larry, most of America pays NO federal tax.
They are the ones enjoying the benefits (and they are many) without ‘paying their fair share’
Rich people will enjoy it, but it is not a game changer like it will be to the middle class.
Does envy blacken your heart to such a degree?
That oughta piss the libs off when they see their 401K plans go up by thousands of dollars.
Why should we pay any taxes to pay for a congress whose only job these days is to oversee itself on a bunch of bloody nonsense? Tax cut? Hell! How about total tax elimination?
Larry has the same Economics degree as the Bronx genius, Alexandria Ocassio Cortez
Larry — Not to worry, they’re not gonna cut food stamps and any other welfare program anytime soon. So you’re safe.
BTW, why should another human being be pressed into service for the sake of another human being? I mean, if you and I, say, have the same opportunities — which we’ve prepared ourselves for, over time (you have been preparing yourself, right?) — why should I expect you to make up for my shortfall? Isn’t that a type of slavery?
I swear Abigail is a revolutionary! 😀
“A little revolution from time to time is a good thing.”
No! Not more winning!
Even though most of Americas wealthy are democommunists, democommunists will oppose this measure simply because they do not want anything good to happen on President Trump’s watch.
AA,
Spoken like a true believer in Ayn Rand. Bless you!
Larry, you’re so funny, I gave you a TU.
Why should there even be a tax, any tax, on claiming to move some of your money from one pocket to another. Especially with our modern technology of fractional banking, where the vast majority of that “money” doesn’t even exist. Not even the paper it isn’t even printed on.
Seems like fake Americans, faking the movement of fake money, paying less taxes, so people doing useless things like… um… doing… things, is what made America great. Again.
“YOU CAN’T KEEP YOUR OWN MONEY! IT’S THE GOVERNMENT’S MONEY!”