President Trump on Thursday said he will cut the capital gains tax rate to 15% if he wins a second term in office.
“I’m going to do a capital gains tax cut to 15% in [the] second term — we’re going to get it down to 15,” he said on Fox Business Network. “It’s at 21[%] — we’ll get that down to 15%. I’ll get that done easily.”
Long-term capital gains tax rates generally range from 0-20% depending on a person’s income. Wealthier investors are also subject to an additional 3.8% investment income tax, for an effective tax rate of 23.8%.
Short-term capital gains on assets sold within a year are generally taxed as ordinary income.
Conservative activists have long called for Mr. Trump to use executive authorities to index capital gains taxes to inflation.
Mr. Trump on Wednesday also said he plans to completely eliminate the payroll tax, which funds social security, in his second term.
He recently took executive action to defer payroll taxes until the end of the year starting on Sept. 1. He said the taxes would be completely forgiven if he wins in November.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump said Social Security would be paid for through the “general fund” and “tremendous growth.”
Mr. Trump also said ahead of the 2018 midterms that a 10% middle-class tax cut was coming, though that never materialized.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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