On Tuesday, Meg Whitman issued MEG 2010: Building a New California, and she laid it on the line about taxes: “We simply cannot afford a big, across-the-board tax cut that would irresponsibly grow the state’s already over-sized debt level and drop our bond rating to junk status.” Instead, we should totally eliminate the state tax on capital gains.
We should do so because “California is one of a few states in the country that doesn’t tax capital gains at a lower rate than traditional income. This is double taxation at its worst. California’s tax treatment of capital gains is a major impediment to capital formation and investment in new jobs. We should align California’s tax treatment of capital gains with other competing states.”
Her statement has a nice read, but in actuality forty-one states tax capital gains at the exact same rate as “traditional income.” Only nine tax capital gains at a lower rate.
Meg’s statement in not only misleading, but is an outright deception on her part. Sounds like Meg is already taking advice from her pick for Controller – Tony Strickland.
