Thank God that someone finally came up with the obvious solution. Which is to have the same tax rate on dividends as we have on capital gains.
There is, of course, the other "obvious" solution which is that dividends income and capital gains income should be taxed at the level of all other forms of income.
It is, of course, unfair to tax them at different levels, which, unfortunately, in some circles, these days, counts for little. It is also less than clear as to the policy impacts of such unfairness, particularly if one drops away from ideological cuts. And, finally, it undermines confidence in the tax code to have such grossly unfair distinctions.
The problem is that the political culture about taxes is, at best, somnolent. Someday, one of these days, it will wake up. |
