Word: frees
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Although they are now ostensibly taxed at the same rate as other income, capital gains already get favored treatment in two ways. First, they are only taxed when an investment is sold, unlike interest and dividends, which are taxed every year. An ideal free-market tax system would leave an investor indifferent between, say, a savings account paying 10% a year and a stock expected to rise 10% a year. But tax-free compounding means that, for a top- bracket taxpayer the after-tax profit on the stock will be 45% bigger after 20 years...
...with no taxes, it would not make sense to borrow at 10% for an investment that will pay only 8%. If the tax system adjusts profits for inflation but not borrowing costs, such a topsy-turvy investment can suddenly become a brilliant tax shelter. If you believe in the free market, that makes no sense...
...From a free-market perspective, then, there is no justification for a special tax break for capital gains. If advocates of a capital-gains break wish to concede that they are socialists engaged in large-scale Government intervention in the economy, we can start again from the top on that basis. Of course, if we're talking socialism, it will be a lot harder to avoid the fairness issue...
...astonishing variety of chemicals, from amphetamines and meat tenderizers to pesticides. To make sure they are not being poisoned, some users are going back to a process popular years ago. They buy cocaine and convert it into a purer form of crack at home. This dangerous process, called free-basing, involves combining cocaine with baking soda and cooking the mixture. The latest trend among well- to-do users is to prepare their free base in microwave ovens...
Dean Acheson compared the task of his fellow statesmen at the end of World War II to the one described in the first chapter of the Bible. "That was to create a world out of chaos; ours, to create half a world, a free half, out of the same material." The genesis that is now at hand may be just as formidable, because it involves transcending not chaos but a rigid order...