Steven Rattner offers ideas on raising tax revenue and I respond
in a New York Times blog post titled More Chips For Tax Reform. In case you do not recognize the name, Rattner is a long-time Wall Street player who served as the "car czar" in the first Obama term and currently chairs Willett Advisors LLC, the investment firm that manages New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's personal and philanthropic assets. He also is highly visible as the economic analyst on Morning Joe. Thus when he discusses raising some taxes, it carries a great deal of weight.
Consider his opening paragraph:
Consider his opening paragraph:
Almost lost in the tug of war over whether the top income tax rate should be 35 percent or 39.6 percent is another consequential tax issue: the proper rate for capital gains and dividends.. This establishes the framework for his presentation, in which he comes to the conclusion that the President' proposals to eliminate the special treatment of dividends and raise the Capital Gains rate from 15 to 20% is insufficient:
Personally, I would go further and raise the capital gains rate to 28 percent, right where it was during the strong recovery of Bill Clinton’s first term, and grab hold of a total of $300 billion of new