How Your Vote Can Earn More than Stock (Part 1)

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You can also persuade others to raise issues of common interests before prospective Presidents and other hopefuls for your mandate. What if you use financial planning aims as a prime consideration in using your franchise? Certainly, this is what well-heeled donors to $100-a-plate fund raising banquets do, for no private equity denizen will parts with dollars except in return for stock value benefits! You may not be empowered to break the nexus between caucuses and their sponsors, but nothing should prevent you from joining in the fun! A good place to start is to make a list of all the things Congress can do to make your stocks pay more.

Consider Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). It was supposed to be to save the wealthy all the bother of keeping track of deductions and waivers. Do you pay without having sufficient stock to feel rich? Most U.S. citizens who currently qualify for AMT will cough up over $6 thousand each soon after the New Year festoons have faded. Are you one of the 4 million US citizens that suffer from AMT? Would you prefer an alternative to the alternative that would keep you out of the net? That should be one way of making up for any losses you may suffered in realty stocks!

New Legislation Can Discourage Diligent Stock Investing

The $200-500 thousand income bracket should not appear excessive for stock investors by any stretch of the imagination. Yet, almost 10% of tax payers in this modest bracket have been left untouched by 2007 tax cuts. Would you be nearly as well off by making injudicious stock selections, or even by preferring the horse track for the stock market? Would corporate America be better off if AMT contributions to the exchequer were replaced by higher levies on the rich and famous in the stock exchange? Overall, can people in your income bracket brag about the same kinds and degrees of protection that the big fish of campaign waters enjoy?

It is not as though there are no incentives for financial planning at lower income levels. However, they are primarily designed to achieve governance goals, such as funding local self government, or reducing the crude oil import burden. What about rewarding clever investing in stocks? Would it be better to reduce capital gains taxation for individuals, rather than slap them with AMT? Have you ever felt disappointed because your heard-fought gains from stocks are taken away by IRS nerds? Well, there is no time like an election year to make your voice heard!

How Your Vote Can Earn More than Stock (Part 2)

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