Legislative Alert – H.R. 2121 – Generating Retirement Ownership Act

Earlier this year Congress extended the 15% tax rate on capital gains and dividend income through 2010; and if those rates had expired taxpayers would have been forced to pay capital gains taxes at a 20% rate and dividend taxes at a 39.5% rate. This equates to progress, but it is not over. Taxes can eat away more than 50% of a shareholder’s long-term returns. The next step is to end the ridiculous practice (along with the “death tax”) of taxing investors on capital gains they did not initiate. Currently, mutual funds are required to distribute each year their net capital gains. Shareholders then have to pay taxes on these capital gains distributions even though most shareholders choose to reinvest the distributions automatically in their current holdings. The shareholder is required to pay taxes on these gains even though they took no action. This tax discourages shareholders from investing in the long-term and reduces the amount of savings for shareholders.

Illegal Immigration Update – September 6th, 2006

Immigration is the most melancholy element of a depressing Republican year. The Iraq intervention and its aftermath have hurt, and Republican inattention to runaway government spending has been deplorable. But immigration is the issue most likely to cause rank-and-file Republican voters to stay home on Election Day, and it may cost the party its congressional majorities.
[Robert Novak]