Strategic View: Should We Wish for High or Low Gas Prices?
While it’s easy to blame paltry U.S. gas taxes on auto executives and the craven politicians who work for them, in fact low gas prices are wildly popular in the United States, particularly among the poorer half of the income distribution. What we environmentalists often have missed in the debate over policy is the pressure felt by struggling U.S. families teetering over a frayed social safety net. Gas taxes are extremely regressive, meaning the poorer you are, the higher the percentage of your income that is affected. Energy costs eat up 15 percent of the poorest households’ income, compared to …
Advocating For Extending Clean Energy Tax Credits
July 29, 2008 In a letter organized by the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) Trillium Asset Management Corporation has joined more than 40 asset managers, pension funds, state treasurers, endowments and foundations to urge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to pass legislation extending tax credit for clean energy. The extender legislation will help level the playing field with long-term subsidies and help prevent the cancellation of 42,000 MW of planned renewable energy development today in 45 states. To view the entire letter, click here. …
Taxes on Dividends and Capital Gains Likely to Rise by 2011–Maybe Sooner for High-Income Households
One of the things we know about investment tax rates: they change frequently. The top capital gains tax rate was almost 40% in the 1970s, 20% 1982-86, back up to 28-33% in 1987-1990, down to 20% 1997-2000, and 15% since 2003 (along with dividends). The 2003 “Bush tax cuts” are set to expire at the end of 2010; if Congress does nothing the capital gains tax rate will go up to 20% in 2011 for those in higher tax brackets, and dividends will again be taxed as regular income. Do shifts in tax rates influence the financial markets? It is …
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