I'm sorry, your retort does not respond to the your new tax law and the consequences of them and the mechanics of how the stock market works.
The purchase price is today's price, whether it is high or low depends on the future price. Your new tax law makes the tax I pay dependent on whose stock I buy. I can buy grandma's stock that she paid $3.00 for and pay a whopping tax, or buy Bill's and pay no tax. He paid $75.12 and is taking a loss to sell.
Can you see how this will cause grandma's stock to go down in value?
I want you to strike this line from your legislation immediately or I will send no more contributions to your campaign!
BTW, how do plan to handle the brokers purchase, every stock is bought by the broker from the seller before it is sold to the new purchaser.
Rich, it is hard enough to get ahead, why put this impediment in the way of those who save and want to provide for their own future rather than look to the big tit for sustenance. Mikek
"So if I buy, say, 1,000 shares of International Widget at its IPO, clearly, that's a new product. Say it's $1.00/share, that's $1,000.00 in sales, and my outgo tax would be $100.00. Now, assume they're a hit, and I find my shares worth, say, $2.00. I decide to cash out, so I sell my 1,000 shares to Joe Schmo for $2,000.00. It's not really fair that Joe should have to pay the full tax on the $2,000.00 price, since I've already paid the tax on the initial $1,000.00. The "Value Added" would amount to the difference between its price today, $2,000.00, and the $1,000.00 that I initially paid, or $1000.00. So Joe should only have to pay $100.00 tax on the "Value Added" That is, the "Value Added" would be the difference between the price today and its price the last time it was traded. "