President Trump said Thursday he’s considering indexing capital gains to inflation for tax purposes, a move that would benefit investors.
“I’m thinking about it,” Trump told Bloomberg Thursday when asked.
Under current tax law, people pay capital gains taxes on the amount the price of an asset increased from the time it was bought until the time it’s sold.
The New York Times reported in July that the Trump administration was looking at changing how capital gains taxes are calculated and whether to allow asset holders to adjust the value of those gains for inflation at the point of sale. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in mid-July at the G-20 summit that the Treasury was trying to determine whether it has the power to make that change. That power traditionally relies on Congress, but it’s something that White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow has wanted.
Indexing capital gains to inflation could mean hundreds of thousands in returns on investment, even with a minor adjustment in the tax rate.
For instance, if someone bought $100,000 worth of stock in 1975 and sold it for $1 million today, they would owe the federal government taxes on $900,000. If the administration indexed capital gains to inflation, the total taxable gains would fall to around $700,000.
House Republicans came up with an outline for a second round of tax cuts earlier in July, but left out changes to capital gains. The House Ways and Means Committee is currently working on the language of a second tax cut bill it plans to roll out in September. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, has said he does not plan to include capital gains changes in his proposal.
With a slim GOP majority in the Senate and members of Congress focused on winning reelection, it isn’t likely that another round of tax cuts makes its way through both chambers before the November midterm elections.
