Capital Gains

The House this week endorsed a capital gains tax cut. Great news if you own stocks, rental property or other assets that have appreciated in value. What should you do? Right now, probably nothing. First, to become law, the House must officially pass the measure--expected early next week--and then it must win approval in the Senate, which is not assured. Revisions could slip into the final law.

Capital gains tax reductions. Wasn't that a Republican club? Now half of the Senate Democrats, and some of their GOP brethren, are supporting a proposal (SB 132) by Sen. Dale Bumpers (D-Ark.) to reduce the capital gains tax rate on long-term investments in small-business ventures. In the House, Rep. Robert T. Matsui (D-Sacramento) has introduced an identical bill (HR 3741) with 38 co-sponsors.

In case you thought the federal tax laws couldn't get any more favorable to homeowners after two major reform bills in less than two years, think again. Tax specialists on Capitol Hill say many taxpayers have overlooked key "effective date" provisions hidden in the fine print of the 1997 and 1998 tax laws that bestow even more goodies on certain sellers of homes.

Life has a funny way of intruding on the Lakers during their playoff series with the Sacramento Kings. Last year the theme song was "Having My Baby," when Rick Fox jetted to the East Coast after Game 3 to be with his wife, who was giving birth to their first child. This year's music was "Pomp and Circumstance," for Jackson's trip to Boulder, Colo., for his son Ben's graduation from the University of Colorado.

The rising stock market contributed to a 38% rise in capital gains tax revenue on 1997 tax returns, outstripping the rise in wages, a new IRS report said. Although the figures are more than a year old, the Internal Revenue Service report offers the first details on how the stock market boom is affecting the personal finances of millions of U.S. taxpayers.

The House's top tax writer wants to attach to the Internal Revenue Service overhaul bill a provision to shorten the period investors must wait before qualifying for lower capital gains tax rates, congressional aides said Monday. The proposal by House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Archer (R-Texas) could set up a last-minute confrontation over the bill with the White House.

Two Republican senators, claiming support from the Bush Administration and more than half the Senate, introduced a bill today to cut capital gains taxes and expand tax-deferred Individual Retirement Accounts. "This plan provides opportunities and incentives for all Americans," Sen. William V. Roth Jr. (R-Del.) told a news conference. "It's good for both savers and investors. And it's good for America." President Bush campaigned last year on a pledge to cut capital gains taxes.

In a sharp turnaround, the chief tax lawmaker in the House has opened the door to a compromise with President Bush on his controversial proposal to cut capital gains taxes, according to congressional sources. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.) is considering a plan that would lower the top capital gains rate to 20% for at least one year. The plan would also allow investors to adjust for inflation so that they would not be taxed on profits that simply reflected general price increases, a congressional tax specialist said Thursday.

Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.) chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, today promised all-out opposition to President Bush's proposal to reduce the tax on capital gains. "I'm not about to tell the wage earners in Chicago that they should pay a higher tax than stockbrokers," Rostenkowski said in a speech to the National Press Club.

Mutual fund investors who want to avoid, or at least minimize, the effects of capital gains distributions have several options. * Own index funds, which tend to generate fewer realized capital gains because of their passive management (i.e., they try to buy and hold shares). Index funds are designed to replicate the performance of a benchmark such as the blue-chip Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. * Choose "tax-managed" funds.