capital gains tax

President Obama is making the Buffett Rule -- a minimum tax on millionaires who get off easy under the current tax code -- one of the centerpiece of his re-election campaign. Here's what adoption of the tax might mean for all of us.

With the Dow surging past 13,000, capital gains fans are sitting pretty, and a Barron's poll of financial experts says dividend stocks are the place for the smart money to be. But all the exuberance is masking several reasons why it's actually time to get out of those popular equities.

When the Facebook IPO arrives, many of its employees are almost certain to hit it rich -- and they're getting an extra benefit no one would have expected: The company will pay the taxes on their stock profits. Crazy? Recent history says not. Here's why:

There are more than 400 delegates up for grabs across 10 states in the Super Tuesday GOP presidential primaries. While the votes are being tallied, we offer this outline of the business and money policy positions of frontrunners Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum:

Rick Santorum has rarely shied away from controversy in his political career, but there's no controversy to be found in his taxes. Based on his recently released returns, Santorum appears to have been a conscientious taxpayer, and a fairly normal (if a little wealthy) guy.

Amid all the chatter about Mitt Romney's high income and low taxes, many have wondered why more Americans don't take advantage of those attractive capital gains rates. The answer is that most people can't -- at least not on a level large enough to make a difference in their finances.

A lot of tax talk focuses on tax brackets. But in order to get the full picture of what you hand over to Uncle Sam, you need to consider not your bracket, but your effective tax rate -- and those are two very different numbers.

On Tuesday, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney released his tax returns, which showed he only paid about 14% of his $21.6 million income in taxes. You'll probably never have that kind of money, but you can use some of his methods to save on your own taxes.

Mitt Romney paid a lower tax rate on his $21.6 million income in 2010 than the average U.S. family. It's no secret how: He made his money from investments, not wages. But even people who favor low capital gains taxes might not approve if they understood more about a neat little income category he benefited from called "carried interest."

Although the end of 2011 is near, it's not too late to make sure you don't owe more to the IRS than you need to on April 15. Here are some tax-smart moves to make before you head out to that New Year's Eve party.