Wealthy Dump Assets Amid Worries About Going Over 'Cliff'

cnbc.com ^ | November 12, 2012 | Robert Frank

[Tzimisce]

Taxes haven’t gone up yet and they’re already pushing to raise them.

Think about that. :)

[Yo-Yo]

Wealthy Dump Assets Amid Worries About Going Over 'Cliff'

No, wealthy are dumping assets before the capital gains tax rate goes from the current 15% up to the pre-Bush tax cut rate of 25%.

[Alberta's Child]

I don't think anyone who "dumps assets" because of these pending tax increases is being very smart about it, which might explain why the U.S. stock market hasn't collapsed even though it's clearly hit a rough patch.

For example ... The increase in tax rates on dividends isn't likely to result in huge increases in taxes paid by "the wealthy." It will simply cause publicly-traded companies to re-assess whether they even pay dividends at all -- and how much they pay. A company like ABC, Inc. that is profitable and has lots of cash on hand may simply opt to buy back its own stock -- thereby driving up the value of the remaining shares that are held by shareholders. Those shareholders can then sell their stock later at a higher price and pay any capital gains tax on that sale. Even at the higher capital gains tax rates they won't pay any more in taxes than they would have under the "Bush" tax rates on the dividend they would have been paid before.

[tdscpa]

Probably no dividends, and possibly never again any capital gains. If we never have another Republican president, capitalism will be gone in the US.

We can change the country’s name to North Mexico.