Payroll Tax will not be cut!

[rb336]

Or maybe buh-bye demand for stocks resulting in a plummeting market. Hello depression.

no, merely goodbye speculators who create the nasty bubbles. Wall Street trading has virtually NO impact on job creation except on wall street

[oladub]

no, merely goodbye speculators who create the nasty bubbles. Wall Street trading has virtually NO impact on job creation except on wall street

According to your link, the new tax is 2.5% on transactions. Anyone who invests in something for a year has to pay $250 per $10,000 investment or twice that if "every transaction' means buying and selling stocks. All stock then becomes worth less because of the additional transaction cost reducing demand for stocks. It might reduce speculation of course. I'm not sure if everyone is willing to pay a 2.5 or 5 percent tax to reduce speculation. It is arrogant to assume most people would. In the long run, speculators just temporarily exaggerate markets and markets will self correct. Speculators often lose too. This seems like more of an excuse to loot the citizenry than to accomplish anything very useful.

[rb336]

According to your link, the new tax is 2.5% on transactions. Anyone who invests in something for a year has to pay $250 per $10,000 investment or twice that if "every transaction' means buying and selling stocks. All stock then becomes worth less because of the additional transaction cost reducing demand for stocks. It might reduce speculation of course. I'm not sure if everyone is willing to pay a 2.5 or 5 percent tax to reduce speculation. It is arrogant to assume most people would. In the long run, speculators just temporarily exaggerate markets and markets will self correct. Speculators often lose too. This seems like more of an excuse to loot the citizenry than to accomplish anything very useful.

sorry, but the stock market has been exaggerated by speculators rather severely for the last few years. That is why there is so little stability in the market, why there is so many wide swings. it is not based on investment strategies any more -- it is based on speculation-based strategies.

[oladub]

sorry, but the stock market has been exaggerated by speculators rather severely for the last few years. That is why there is so little stability in the market, why there is so many wide swings. it is not based on investment strategies any more -- it is based on speculation-based strategies.

What are normal swings? When did they last exist? Aren't all investors speculators if they don't have an inside track? What are the other types of strategies you suggest? Where did you gain all you insight from, the Daily Kos or the DU?

Supply demand suggests that the more something costs, the less of it will be bought. Tack 2.5 or 5% taxes on it [[which is it?) and other investments start looking more attractive while stock prices lapse. Lapsing stock prices mean less money to spend and jobs are cut.

[old guy]

Supply demand suggests that the more something costs, the less of it will be bought. Tack 2.5 or 5% taxes on it [[which is it?) and other investments start looking more attractive while stock prices lapse. Lapsing stock prices mean less money to spend and jobs are cut.

Sorry, I was looking at the original transaction tax that was imposed from 1914 - 1966 when it was 0.1% when stocks were issued and 0.04% on transfers. Right now there's a transaction tax [[Section 31 fee) of 0.0034% that raises about 2 billion dollars a year that's used to finance the Securities and Exchange Commission, but it's more income than they need to run it.

I was thinking of the 0.04% tax on transactions because it's almost negligible to buying stocks but would slow down speculation on the transfers. It's also thought that it would raise about 40 billion a year and be less susceptible to tax evasion. Not a huge sum of money but it has been suggested that half could go to debt reduction and half to infrastructure projects.

Not a fix all, but a good starting point. The stock market didn't seem to suffer when it was in place before and so many of these small parts of the puzzle have been removed for the financial sector, we don't have much to work with anymore.

[rb336]

What are normal swings? When did they last exist? Aren't all investors speculators if they don't have an inside track?

$800 swings over two days, repeatedly, is certainly NOT normal. There is a difference between speculators and investors. speculators are in it for the quick buck. It is THEIR activity I would like to see taxed, both through transaction taxes and a sliding cap gains tax. Say, hit them with a transaction tax on investments held less than a year. and start cap gains at 45% for less than a year, sliding down to 10% after 5

[oladub]

There are already short term vs. long term profits and they are taxed at different rates in part to discourage so called speculation. I like the 10% after five year idea. It would be good for buyers of utility stocks. I'm not sure of what it would do to high tech stocks which are riskier investments in a field where there is rapid change. it might starve them of capital.

[rb336]

There are already short term vs. long term profits and they are taxed at different rates in part to discourage so called speculation. I like the 10% after five year idea. It would be good for buyers of utility stocks. I'm not sure of what it would do to high tech stocks which are riskier investments in a field where there is rapid change. it might starve them of capital.

There is a graduated cap gains tax? not really. there are some cap gains taxed at higher rates -- essentially on property that has been depreciated [[25%) which is dome so the seller doesn't get a double tax break, or some small business stock that you hold for 5 years for which you can exclude half the value [[28%).