Democrats stick it to the elderly, again

From CNNMoney...

The leading Democratic candidates for president have said they'd favor higher investment taxes on upper-income taxpayers - and Wall Streeters don't like it.

"With the very real prospect of an increase in the capital gains tax, anyone who is long stock will probably give serious consideration to taking profits sometime before the end of 2008," said Ted Weisberg, founder of brokerage house Seaport Securities, in an e-mail to CNNMoney.com....

For investors, higher taxes mean less potential return on a stock or mutual fund bought outside a tax-sheltered account, such as a 401(k) or IRA. So, the theory goes, they're not willing to pay as much as they otherwise would.

Second, investors would have an incentive to get out before higher rates take effect, creating selling pressure....

Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) have said they would support letting the cuts expire for those with taxable incomes over $250,000. Senator John Edwards said he'd like to do so for those whose incomes exceed $200,000.

While they may be pretending to only want tax hike for the "rich", when the investment market takes a hit, it's not the "rich" who suffer, it will be those whose income is mainly from investments—namely the retired. Their "fixed" income is really "affixed" to the investment market, and as interest and dividend slow due to higher taxes (which means fewer investment) our senior citizens will suffer.

Don't hold your breath waiting for the AARP to actually defend the financial interests of their members who are relying solely on pension income, the AARP has long since joined the NOW, the NAACP and the NEA and other organizations pretending to represent a specific group while actually functioning solely as yet another cheerleader for the DNC.

Posted by Danny Carlton at November 9, 2007 6:28 AM