Stephanopoulos left unchallenged McCain’s assertion that “every time you have cut capital gains taxes, revenues have increased”

On the April 20 edition of ABC’s This Week, host George Stephanopoulos did not challenge Sen. John McCain’s assertion that “history shows every time you have cut capital gains taxes, revenues have increased — going back to Jack Kennedy.” McCain’s claim echoed ABC World News anchor Charles Gibson’s assertion, during the April 16 Democratic presidential debate, that “history shows that when you drop the capital gains tax, the revenues go up.” Additionally, during a panel discussion later on This Week, Washington Post columnist George F. Will asserted, “[I]t’s true that when you raise capital gains taxes — rates, you lower revenues from that.” However, as Media Matters for America documented, notwithstanding a potential short-term revenue increase, many economists have challenged the claim that revenue goes up over the long term as a result of capital gains tax rates being cut. Indeed, the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimated in June 2006 that the 2006 extension of the 2003 cuts on capital gains taxes would result in decreased revenues of $20 billion over 10 years.

In a 2006 letter to Congress, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) stated, “In analyzing the relationship between capital gains tax rates and capital gains realizations, it is important to distinguish between the temporary and permanent effects of tax rate changes. Investors can generally choose when to realize their gains; if they believe that tax rates will change in the future, they may try to time their realizations to occur during a period with lower tax rates.” Indeed, notwithstanding a potential short-term increase, numerous economists have challenged the suggestion that an overall increase in revenues always levitra kaufen deviagra online bestellen occurs when capital gains tax rates are lowered:

Related posts: Inside the fire disturbed, Quantrill, Cibulkova, Window 7, Escalante