President Donald Trump said Thursday he would consider linking capital gains taxes to inflation, repeating an idea previously floated by his administration that some see as tantamount to a tax cut for the rich.
The president made the remarks in an interview Thursday with Bloomberg News.
“I’m thinking about it,” Trump said Thursday in the interview.
The idea has been pushed by the White House’s top economic advisor, Larry Kudlow; Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin raised the idea earlier this summer. But it has also been considered in prior administrations, including that of George H. W. Bush, which ultimately dropped it.
It would be an estimated $100 billion tax cut that would benefit largely those who own assets such as stocks and real estate. Mnuchin told The New York Times in July that the Treasury was looking at whether it could use regulatory powers to allow for the change. Critics have said Congress would need to approve it.
Indexing to inflation means taxpayers could adjust the initial value of an asset for inflation when selling it, potentially saving a lot of money on long-held assets by reducing the amount of capital gains tax they would need to pay.
The House is getting ready to roll out a new tax bill outlining more tax cuts next month. Bloomberg reported that Kudlow pushed for capital gains indexing to be included in that legislation.
Read the Bloomberg News story here.
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