Picture of the Day
(Customers line up to look at firearms at a gun shop in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008. The Cheaper Than Dirt gun store recorded a record day of gun sales the day after the election of President-elect Barack Obama and is having trouble keeping up with the demand for assault rifles.(AP Photo/LM Otero))
(I picked this photo for the kid.)
posted by mikevotes at
6:06 AM
8 Comments:
What the f....!
By
-epm, at 9:31 PM
Worried about gun laws.
But here's the thing. How stupid do you have to be to think that you have to do it RIGHT NOW, because it's not like any new laws start right now.
By
mikevotes, at 6:01 AM
Folks in the midwest are selling property that they would have sold in the next few years because of fears of a rise in the capital gains tax.
By
matt, at 7:17 AM
That makes a little more sense, however, I think any cap gains difference would likely take effect in 2010, and the market for real estate would probably be a little better next year once the credit eases.
(Plus, the cap gains thing is only on over 250K. The plan right now is to grade it, but who knows what comes out of Congress.)
So, a somewhat paranoid response to a shifting equation.
By
mikevotes, at 7:35 AM
And capital gains doesn't apply to your residence, just investment property, I believe.
By
-epm, at 9:00 AM
No, it does over a bit of a complicated formula.
Right now, the first $250,000 in profit is exempt, and the rest of it is non taxable if you invest in another primary residence within two years.
Not that I've looked into selling my house or anything.
By
mikevotes, at 10:43 AM
This is just getting trivial, but I believe there's a one-time exemption from reinvestment on capital gains from a primary residence.... Aimed at protecting seniors.
And anyway, we're talking about GAINS of a quarter-mil. Not exactly chump changes.
On a broader note, this is why conservatives tout the notion that cutting taxes RAISES revenues. It's because people act emotionally. When capital gains rates are cut, people sell because they think they're getting a deal. But they only do that once.... then they settle back into normal (rational) buying and selling patters. In the LONG RUN, revenue isn't increased. Is only looks that way if you take a narrow enough slice of time following a rate cut.
By
-epm, at 11:33 AM
That's a much longer discussion than I'm really in for today.
Short version. Ronald Reagan successfully sold the idea of the "bigger pie" and any research to the contrary has never penetrated.
They sell tax cuts because they're popular even if it is "voodoo economics."
By
mikevotes, at 1:12 PM
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