Talk:Capital gain/Archives/2012

Merge from Capital Loss
As a loss is merely a negative gain, shouldn't these two be merged? Any tax ramifications (under the US system) can then be placed in its own section. Avi 22:09, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

Merged Avi 18:40, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

It think this article should be retitled Capital Gain - United States Taxation. It could then be appropriatly expanded.

Peter Reilly 15:40, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

I agree, it should be retitled Capital Gain-- United States Taxation. If capital gains and losses have other meanings in other countries, it will only confuse readers to address those multiple meanings in the same article. Otherwise, as for the U.S., the point of discussing capital gains and losses is to measure the performance of an investment--and the tax consequences that flow from it. [Sterling Lee 16:03, 15 April 2006 (UTC)]


 * Perhaps then it should be merged with Capital gains tax in the United States. Morphh   (talk) 14:34, 07 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Merging the two articles makes sense. I don't think there's any real risk of different meanings in other countries leading to confusion (capital gain is a pretty universal term, used in tax treaties and OECD discussions), but the two articles are duplicative.Eggmanesquire 17:28, 13 July 2007 (UTC)


 * I am going to remove the U.S. tax ramifications section as all of the key points are covered already in the article Capital gains tax in the United States. DWR (talk) 18:56, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Other Comments
Shouldn't there be something about bed-and-breakfasting here? Stan 20:44, 5 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * Bed-and-breakfasting? What so you mean? Avi 22:09, 12 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Selling on day one to trigger a gain or loss (which may be useful to set off against other gains or losses, or make use of exemptions or reliefs) and buying back the same things on day two, taking the (small) risk of an overnight price movement. It does not work in the UK any more because there are rules matching disposals with acquisitions in the next 30 days (s.106A(5) TCGA), and 30 days is rather too long to wait, although I suppose you could do funny things with futures / contracts for differences / spreads. -- ALoan (Talk) 12:23, 13 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Similar to a wash sale, but overnight? That doesn't work in the US either any longer Avi 14:57, 13 January 2006 (UTC)
 * i know for a fact that this doesnt work for marketable securities (stocks, bonds, etc) in Canada. they got this neat thing called a "Superficial Loss".  That is, if you sell and buy within less than 30 days apart, you can not claim a capital loss.  however, if it is a gain instead, you WILL be taxable. Shaoquan 03:44, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Milton Friedman talked about this subject in his book "Capitalism & Freedom". I think that this article needs to have some of his ideas explained here. Its important for Americans to know that in 1997 the capital gains was lowered to 20% and they need to know what the effect will be on the size of companies. Pretty soon corporations will be so large that the people don't have a voice. mozkill 20:44, 5 Mar 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mozkill (talk • contribs)

Tax basis and Cost basis
I've redirects Tax basis and Cost basis here. Could someone add a bit about that? (Or if I'm mistaken, please redirect those to a more appropriate place.) Thanks! Ewlyahoocom 20:16, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

US v. Other
Since this is an international encyclopaedia, shouldn't the article give equal weight/emphasis to each country? At the moment the article gives information about the US, then lists a few other countries to which the article might apply. Why is this? Surely it's a little too US-focused?

There are lots of different country-specific issues which apply to capital gains. This article, for example, makes no mention of the Capital Gains Tax Break in the UK, which is most certainly related to the general topic.

I do not have the required specialist knowledge to alter this article (heck, that's why I spend half of my life on wikipedia), does anyone with any idea about finance have any thoughts on re-jigging the article?

82.21.36.118 09:43, 25 July 2007 (UTC)Dom
 * For that matter, why list countries in which capital gains are taxable? They are taxable in most countries--nontaxation would be the exception, not the rule.Eggmanesquire 18:45, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

US Capital Gains History
The section of US Capital Gains History should make reference to the "superlong term" rates which used to exist. I believe that the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 repealed this special category, but I have no further details. The enactment and repeal should be added to the history portion of this article. Mike Connors - 15:35, 2 January 2008

Delete US capital gains section
I am somewhat puzzled as to why RyRy5 has reverted my change removing the lengthy section on US capital gains tax.

There is a length article at Capital gains tax in the United States which covers all of the topics covered by this section.

The concept of a 'capital gain' is distinct from 'capital gains tax', which is in turn distinct from capital gains tax in any particular jurisdiction.

There are 189 members of the United Nations. The majority will have a distinct concept of 'capital gains tax'. The US is but one of them. --DWR (talk) 01:50, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Capial gains is also an important Basic financial concept.
A link could be made to Basic financial concepts as it is also important to finance

Mark —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mark ok7 (talk • contribs) 10:23, 12 July 2008 (UTC)

Clarity of definition
The clarity of capital gains in the opening explanation could be greatly improved. Since capital gains occur only when an investment is exchanged between two parties, references to "the investor" are ambiguous. Is that the current party who is selling the capital asset or the party electing to buy said asset? This ambiguity is repeated in the phrase "purchase price" since it is unclear whether this is the original purchase price of the first investor or the purchase price for which the second investor elects to buy the asset from the first investor. Perhaps the introduction would be better served by an example involving "Investor A" and "Investor B". Thoughts? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.22.247.132 (talk) 04:29, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Capital Gains Valuation posted on 21012-05-21 is not seen. That Post bookmarked in my PC is showing this post. This is for Admin kind attention please. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Meeyalabbai (talk • contribs) 12:43, 24 May 2012 (UTC)

I have used a different page. Regards — Preceding unsigned comment added by Meeyalabbai (talk • contribs) 12:48, 24 May 2012 (UTC)


 * This article needs a lot of work, from the opening sentence on. Parsed directly from Investopedia, a capital gain is, "An increase in the value of a capital asset (investment or real estate) that gives it a higher worth than the purchase price. The gain is not realized until the asset is sold." For starter, a capital gain is not a profit, a profit generally relates to income classes, not assets. So how about we start this article with a definition that approximates the Investopedia one. If no one objects, I will begin at the beginning. 10stone5 (talk) 05:48, 11 August 2012 (UTC)


 * Dear 10stone5: As I have explained in a separate talk page, that is incorrect. A capital gain is a type of "income." Famspear (talk) 14:26, 11 August 2012 (UTC)


 * By the way, the Investopedia definition, as you quoted it, is essentially correct. It's not the technical tax law definition of a capital gain, but it's descriptively accurate, more or less. You went off into the weeds, however, when you stated that a capital gain is not "profit". (That's not what Investopedia said in the material you quoted, either.) And no, the term "profit" does not generally relate merely to "income classes." The term "profit" is just another term for "gain" or for that matter other kinds of income. Famspear (talk) 14:34, 11 August 2012 (UTC)