If you and I earn the same but I spend all of my money on alcohol and pot, while you set aside to pay for your kids' college, how is it fair that you pay more tax?
You should not penalize people for being frugal and saving by taxing accumulated wealth. There's already a strong incentive to pump money back into the economy via investment - interest/yield, to counteract the constant erosion caused by inflation.
:)
> If your capital losses exceed your capital gains, the amount of the excess loss that you can claim on line 13 of Form 1040 to lower your income is the lesser of $3,000, ($1,500 if you are married filing separately) or your total net loss shown on line 16 of the Form 1040, Schedule D (PDF), Capital Gains and Losses. If your net capital loss is more than this limit, you can carry the loss forward to later years.
https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc409.html
The losses that people like Donald Trump can carry forward are not capital losses, which is what we are talking about in this thread, and which apply to the situation pcardh0 described in his comment. The losses Trump took are net operating losses, which he was able to take advantage of because he is in the real estate business.
The 3000 is the deductible limit per year based on a loss, this isn't the limit to carry over.
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p536/ar02.html https://www.irs.gov/publications/p550/ch01.html#en_US_2015_p...
> You hold $100. I hold $1. We live the same life, live the same services, make the same income, and you pay 100x the taxes, if you base it on wealth. Does this really feel fair?
Yes, that is fair! How about this scenario instead: I hold $100,000, but suddenly make $300,000 this year because I sold my startup. Trump holds $1,000,000,000, spends $1,000,000, and loses money on a stupid investment so his net income is negative. I pay $120,000 tax, over a quarter of my net worth, while he pays nothing. Is that fair?