Publications

Public Policy Brief Highlights No. 32A | August 1997

What’s Missing from the Capital Gains Debate?

Real Estate and Capital Gains Taxation
The recent enactment of a capital gains tax cut resulted, according to the authors, from the absence of a true appreciation or consideration of the real beneficiaries of such a cut, its probable actual effects, the distinction between productive and nonproductive sources of capital gains (two-thirds of capital gains accrue to real estate, which is a fixed, nonproductive asset), and distortions in our current income accounting system (which shield most real estate income from taxation). The across-the-board cut, which treats real estate appreciation and true capital gains as the same, is a giveaway to real estate and will steer capital and entrepreneurial resources to a search for unearned income.
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Author(s):
Michael Hudson Kris Feder

Publication Highlight

Book Series
A Great Leap Forward
Heterodox Economic Policy for the 21st Century
Author(s): L. Randall Wray
January 2020

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