I Might Just Be Dumber than I Look, Though I work for a living, but I also have some ( exceedingly small) income from dividends. I cannot understand why conservatives think that one form of income should be free of taxes while the other is fair game. Both are income, why not tax both? If double taxation is such an evil, someone ought to tell the Republicans who run the State of Ohio, because they cheerfully tax my income after the feds do, and they seem to have no qualms about it. Hell, if you count sales taxes, some of my income in triple taxed. The money I spend on gas taxes is quadruple taxed.
Frankly, since we have to tax something, let's tax the Hell out of dividends. I work damn hard for my paycheck, and I do nothing for those dividends, so I see no reason why they get preferential treatment.
Cutting dividend taxes will spur investment? I doubt it. The American economy is as close to a sure thing as you are going to find, and anyone who won't jump into it because of a tax on some the returns is a fool. I pay lots of taxes on my overtime too, and I haven't turned down the opportunity to work longer hours just because I pay taxes on the extra income. Anyway, since a worker putting overtime is more efficient than hiring another worker (no extra health care or other benefit costs, no training, ect.) why not keep the dividend tax and end taxes on overtime? They would spur a lot more activity than cutting taxes on dividends, wouldn't it? It sure would be a bigger boost to consumption than a dividend tax cut would be. those who need it the most would receive the biggest benefit. Yes, salaried workers would receive no benefit, but since they tend to be the higher paid workers anyway, they need it less.
Oh, yeah, then there is this too:
Many economists predict that the plan will help stock prices, but say they are skeptical that it will do much to increase business investment or consumer spending in the short term. (From the New York Times)
6:14:49 PM 
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