CRS Report: Capital Gains Tax Options: Behavioral Responses and Revenues (IRC §1)

How taxpayer responses to capital gains tax rate changes affect government revenues is the topic of a report the Congressional Research Service issued April 30. Compared with most other tax provisions, the potential revenue gain scored for an increase in capital gains taxes is strongly affected by behavioral responses assumed by the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Treasury Department, CRS said. CRS discusses the debate that occurred in the late 1980s, reviews research since that time, and analyzes implications for revenue effects. Obama administration and JCT revenue projections on allowing Bush-era lower capital gains tax rates to expire, absent ...