Capital Gains Taxes: An Overview

Jane G. Gravelle
Senior Specialist in Economic Policy

Current tax rates on capital gains are imposed at a 0% rate for those whose income places them in the regular 15% bracket, 15% for taxpayers in higher brackets with taxable income below $450,000 for joint returns and $400,000 for single returns, and 20% for those with taxable income above those amounts. There is also an exclusion of $500,000 ($250,000 for single returns) for gains on home sales.

Tax legislation in 1997 reduced capital gains taxes on several types of assets, imposing a 20% maximum tax rate on long-term gains, a rate temporarily reduced to 15% for 2003-2008, which was extended for two additional years in 2006. Legislation enacted in December 2010 extended the lower rates for an additional two years, thorough 2010. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-240) made the lower rates permanent except for very high income taxpayers.

The capital gains tax had been a tax cut target since the 1986 Tax Reform Act treated capital gains as ordinary income. An argument for lower capital gains taxes is reduction of the lock-in effect. Some also believe that lower capital gains taxes will cost little compared to the benefits they bring and that lower taxes induce additional economic growth, although the magnitude of these potential effects is in some dispute. Others criticize lower capital gains taxes as benefitting higher income individuals and express concerns about the budget effects, particularly in future years. Another criticism of lower rates is the possible role of a larger capital gains tax differential in encouraging tax sheltering activities and adding complexity to the tax law.


Date of Report: January 17, 2013
Number of Pages: 9
Order Number: 96-769
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