Who are all these middle class americans that own stock and pay capital gains?

[smiley_glad_hands]

I'm calling bullshit. Middle class day traders?

[RazBerryBeret]

1. count me out....

no capital gains here.

[baldguy]

2. Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey...

You know - "little people"

[MichiganVote]

3. We paid a huge amount in capital gains this year as we changed over some funds.

[bunkerbuster1]

48. You would've paid a lot more if it were taxed like ordinary income.

Just sayin'.

[MichiganVote]

49. We know, thank you.

[mitchtv]

4. we took some out to buy CDs

and paid$$$$$$$
not rich by the way, just smart, hard working

[Elwood P Dowd]

5. Less than two miles from me there is this guy

that's never had a job in his life. He is almost my age (61) but makes about $500,000 a year off investments. He inherited millions when his grandfather died in the 1970s. He still has Bush/Cheney 04 stickers on his cars. He calls himself an " achiever", a term he heard on Limbaugh. Achievers should not pay taxes according to him because "achievers" create all the jobs and keep the economy running. Oh, and his granddaddy used money and influence to help this spoiled brat avoid the draft. As far jobs, this brat has created exactly ZERO unless you count the lawn and maid service that visits his abode twice a week.

[baldguy]

7. His grandfather was the "achiever"

He's a parasite.

[mitchum]

44. Maybe his "achievement" was when he MURDERED his grandfather in order to get the $$$$$?

I'm just saying...

[AnnieBW]

6. I paid capital gains when I sold my condo

When we moved into our house, we kept our condo as a rental property for a few years. We sold it in 2003 (during the Iraq War). We had to pay capital gains on it because it was not our primary residence, and we didn't use the sale of it to finance the purchase of a new primary residence.

[spanone]

8. i own stock and i pay capital gains...i'm not a day trader

i wish it was bullshit

[Johonny]

14. me too

[lukasahero]

30. me three eom

[Trajan]

9. It's either taxes or tribute ....

A secure country is NOT free .....

Asking to opt out of having to pay your 'share' is asking to freeload on the backs of the other citizens ....

Funny how those who can best afford to invest attack the 'poor' for demanding public services, whilst they do their utter best to reduce their own contribution to society to near zero ....

We are all in this together ..... If we pay, you should pay too ....

[SammyWinstonJack]

40. ...

:thumbsup:

[hack89]

10. I am one

I have always been a saver. Its more common than you seem to believe.

[emilyg]

13. Yes.

[alittlelark]

16. Given our national saving rate - it's not that common.

Good for you if you do it honorably.

[hack89]

31. How can you save un-honorably? nt

[dysfunctional press]

11. raising the fica payroll cap will NOT affect the "middle-class"

individuals making upwards of $102,000 annually are NOT "middle-class", no matter how much they'd like people to believe otherwise.

[alittlelark]

17. The $$ #'s need to be adjusted to local living expenses.....

THEN a true picture will emerge.

[WA98070]

20. Define middle class.....

[ellisonz]

26. Depends where you live and what is being counted as income.

[dysfunctional press]

33. for the sake of fica- it's wages.

nt

[AlCzervik]

12. me and no i'm not rich, not even in the ballpark or the parking lot of the ballpark

or even on the same block as the parking lot.

[Justitia]

15. IMO, people who complain about paying taxes on making money are pathetic.

And trust me, I pay plenty of taxes of all kinds.

Taxes are the membership dues you pay to belong to this Country Club called America.

Complaining about capital gains taxes is really classless.

[Raksha]

18. I have a friend on another forum who is a small-scale investor.

He describes himself as a "recovering Republican" and thinks it's absurd that he pays lower taxes on his capital gains than he used to pay as a working stiff, which he was for many years.

[drmeow]

19. I pay taxes on

capital gains distributions - which are the capital gains you earn when you have money in investment funds.

I think there should be no cap what-so-ever on payroll taxes. Furthermore, I think capital gains should be taxed at exactly the same rate as wages and income. Taxes on capital gains should be withheld just like income tax so that people don't reinvest all of the money and then don't have anything to pay the tax with - if you have the luxury of reinvesting capital gains (when I was a graduate student I didn't - I needed that money to live on), you should pay taxes on it. I think anything that puts money in your pocket should count as income and be subject to tax with one exception - a certain amount of inheritance. I think if you inherit up to a certain amount of money (I don't know what the cap should be) you shouldn't have to pay taxes on it. I'm not talking about estate tax level inheritance but the more average Joe kind of inheritance.

I think corporations that move their operations overseas to avoid paying taxes should be treated like foreign corporations and be denied any benefits of "American" corporations and have their products subject to tariffs. They should automatically lose their "American business" status.

[tcfrogs]

21. You're way wrong

I'm certainly middle class and have a lot of my savings invested in stocks. Also, 401k investments, but I digress.

I sold a good chunk of my stock portfolio last year to buy a house. Consequently, I had to declare capital gains, which impacted my taxes.

There are plenty of ways to make money in this economy. The current economic climate could certainly be better, but there are still lots of great investment opportunities out there. There are a lot of people like me who work hard and are still able to spend and save money.

[Township75]

22. Right here is one

and I need the money

[ThomWV]

23. We pay them

I'm retired from the Government (not much of an income) and my wife receives Social Security, but we are subject to it. Its what happens to people who saved (invested) all of their lives.

[MadHound]

24. I own stocks,

I've had to pay some capital gains in the past. However the vast majority of stocks in this country aren't owned by the middle class, they're owned by the wealthy. Any capital gains tax cut is another tax break for the rich at the expense of the rest of us.

[ProfessorGAC]

32. Same Here

I mean, i wasn't dealing with a portfolio with millions of shares of anything. But, i've sold off when i thought it was the right thing, paid the gains, used part of the cash, and reinvested.

I have a good paying job, but i'm still middle class.
The Professor

[Progressive_In_NC]

34. The vast majority of stocks in this country are owned by 401(k)s and mutual funds

They are the largest holders of stocks in the whole world. These are owned by all of us, but they are protected from these taxes by retirement laws. You are right though, The holders of free market traded stocks in this country are rich folks.

[doc03]

42. Actually I think most people will pay more

taxes on their 401K money than the stock speculators do on Capital Gains. Taxes are only deferred in a 401K, when you cash out you pay the regular income tax rate on all your money and if you cash out before 59 1/2 there is a 10% penalty on top of that.

[conscious evolution]

25. If you cannot live off of

the dividends from your stockholdings then you are not an investor.
You are a sucker.

[BigDaddy44]

27. What??

I have a job. I also have stock holdings, from which I get very very nice dividends. Not enough to live off mind you, but a substantial amount of money. So I'm a sucker? Should I bury it all in the yard instead? Please fill me in Mr. Buffett.

[Burma Jones]

28. Here.......

Not all Democrats are broke you know.

[PVnRT]

29. There are a few that dabble

But unless you are in Gordon Gecko territory, capital gains taxes are not going to amount to much. Hell, I would even support putting a floor on them to encourage small investors, provided there were some way to eliminate the thousands of loopholes that would result.

[Zynx]

35. Capital gains also applies to your stake in a small business and your home.

[aikoaiko]

36. Why are you incredulous?

Capital gains happen and one gets taxed accordingly.

[smiley_glad_hands]

37. Incredulous?

The vast majority of stocks are owned by retirement plans and aren't subject to capital gains.

Sure, it seems there are some middle class americans that dabble in the stock market outside of their retirement.

But the vast majority of those who make a living off the stock market are not middle class.

[smiley_glad_hands]

38. Dupe, self delete

[smiley_glad_hands]

39. If your sole income is from stocks,

then you probably are not middle class.

[Freddie Stubbs]

46. Do you really beleive that those whose sole income from stocks are the only ones who pay this tax?

:shrug:

[smiley_glad_hands]

47. No, but they shouldn't be getting the same tax rate as me. eom

[slackmaster]

41. I paid several hundred in capital gains for 2007

And I will have a few hundred for the 2008 tax year.

[last_texas_dem]

43. I've no doubt there are a fair number of them

But what's odd to me is how there seems to be such opposition, even among Democrats, to the idea of higher capital gains taxes based upon if it would specifically affect you. You know, the money to fund our government has to come from somewhere. It would seem to me that most people hit by capital gains taxes are a bit more economically secure than the majority of the people in this country, so it would seem better to raise capital gains taxes than to generate government funding by hitting those Americans less suited to pay. Isn't the point of a progressive tax system that people should pay a fair share based upon the level that they benefit from the economy?

(But yeah, I feel the need to post a disclaimer that I will readily admit to not being particularly knowledgeable on the subject of economics. I think I may possibly be at least a bit more knowledgeable than John McSame, though, for whatever that's worth!)

[Freddie Stubbs]

45. You do not have to be a day trader to pay capital gains taxes

Anyone who buys and sells stocks, real estate, or other property is subject.

[Xithras]

50. We pay them here.

My private retirement money is invested.

[sergeiAK]

51. I'm one of them

I day trade as a hobby (a fairly profitable one), but I still need my normal job to survive.

[StrongBad]

52. I'm an active investor, not a "day trader" but I make at least 5 trades a month

The capital gains tax should not be increased more than 5% if it's increased at all.