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Hillary’s Long-Term Growth Plan Ignores Granddaughter Charlotte

August 4, 2015

By Caroline Baum

Hillary Clinton wants to rein in short-termism on Wall Street: the tendency of corporate executives to focus on quarterly earnings and the stock price rather than capital investments that yield long-term growth.

Toward that end, she proposed a downward sliding scale of capital gains tax rates, starting with 39.6 percent (43.4 percent including the healthcare surtax) for investments held less than two years and declining to 20 percent, the current long-term capital gains rate, in year six. Clinton clearly missed the memo on the need for tax simplification.

On what basis will the government determine the appropriate holding period for an asset to promote long-term growth? What if an investment is underperforming expectations and a more promising opportunity comes along? Clinton's tax scheme creates a trap, not an opportunity, for investors at a time when companies have been reluctant to invest.

Read the full article at Economics 21: Hillary's Long-Term Growth Plan Ignores Granddaughter Charlotte

Issue Categories : Taxes,