Young Research & Publishing Inc.

Investment Research Since 1978

Disclosure

  • About Us
    • Contributors
    • Archives
    • Dick Young’s Safe America
    • The Final Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report
    • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
    • Dick Young’s Research Key: Anecdotal Evidence Gathering
    • Crisis at Vanguard
  • Investment Analysis
    • Bonds
    • Currencies and Gold
    • Dividend Investing
    • ETFs & Funds
    • Investment Strategy
    • Retirement Investing
    • Stocks
    • The Efficient Frontier
  • Investment Counsel
  • Dynamic Maximizers®
  • Retirement Compounders®
  • Free Email Signup

Fiscal Cliff Winners and Losers

January 15, 2013 By E.J. Smith

It’s nice to have options. Before knowing the fiscal cliff outcome and before taking a trip to North Korea, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt sold 153,000 shares of company stock for $108 million, according to a Wall Street Journal review of securities filings. Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz exercised two million stock options for $107 million. Robert Kauffman, co-founder of hedge fund Fortress Investment Group, sold $180 million in stock back to the firm partly because of concerns about higher tax rates, saying, “It was more that the current certainty, with rates relatively attractive, was a factor. It’s a material amount of money.” No kidding.

Let’s not forget that Google has kept tons of money offshore to reduce the amount it pays in corporate taxes. Not to mention the special tax treatment hedge funds get on their so-called investment gains, which should be taxed as income.

Most businesses in America are small businesses—they’re not huge like Starbucks. Small business owners don’t have the flexibility to exercise options on stock in their company when tax rates are relatively attractive. They don’t have stock options. Most get taxed at their personal income tax rate. For example, a successful mom-and-pop business pays taxes as individuals or joint filers, not as a corporation. Let’s say after 30 years in business they’re finally making some big money. Thanks to the Obama regime, they’ll be taxed at much higher rates as a reward for their success.

The playing field is stacked against the little guy. He doesn’t have the options these bigger players like the Schmidts, Schultzs, and Kauffmans have. The bigger guys get the options and the carve-outs while the little guy gets ripped apart. Meaningful tax reform that broadens the base and lowers rates would make small businesses more competitive and reward innovation and entrepreneurship in America.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

You Might Also Like:

  • Can You Pick the Massive Energy Winners and Losers?
  • Will You Outlive Your Money?
  • Trust in Money, Store of Value
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
E.J. Smith
E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris.

Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com
Latest posts by E.J. Smith (see all)
  • Job Market Survival Advice for Graduates and for Those YOU Love - May 20, 2022
  • BUY THE DIPS? Can You Catch a Ginsu Knife? - May 19, 2022
  • “I’ve Been with Richard Young for Over 30 Years Now” - May 19, 2022

Search Young Research

Most Popular

  • MARKET CHAOS: This May Take Time, Here’s How to Prepare
  • PRICES SOAR: Diesel Shortage Could Cripple America's Economy
  • Your Survival Guy: “Sell in May, Buy After Labor Day?”
  • All-Powerful Money Managers Voting YOUR Money Targeted by Senate GOP
  • Institutional Investors Fall in Love with Oil, Again
  • COMMODITY CRUNCH: Will Tesla Buy a Cobalt Mine?
  • The Power of a Compound Interest Table
  • CRYPTO: Has the Fire Gone Out?
  • The Innovation Bubble Goes Bust
  • HORDING CASH: Funds Hold the Highest Level of Cash Since 9/11

Don’t Miss

Default Risk Among the Many Concerns with Annuities

Risk and Reward: An Efficient Frontier

How to be a Billionaire: Proven Strategies from the Titans of Wealth

Could this Be the Vanguard GNMA Winning Edge?

Cryptocosm and Life After Google

Warning: Avoid Mutual Fund Year End Distributions

Is Gold a Good Long-term Investment?

How to Invest in Gold

Vanguard Wellington (VWELX): The Original Balanced Fund

What is the Best Gold ETF for Investing and Trading?

Procter & Gamble (PG) Stock: The Only True Dividend King

The Dividend King of the North

You’ll Love This if You’re Dreaming of an Active Retirement Life

RSS The Latest at Richardcyoung.com

  • Joe Biden – Malicious, Incompetent, a Wannabe Left Wing Ideologue?
  • Jean-Pierre: Economy “Not Something that We Keep an Eye on Every Day”
  • Job Market Survival Advice for Graduates and for Those YOU Love
  • The Destructive Rise and Fall of BLM
  • What Would We Do without the Experts?
  • V4 Stands Against North African and Middle Eastern Invasion
  • BUY THE DIPS? Can You Catch a Ginsu Knife?
  • Florida: Enjoy Certain Freedoms and Individual Liberties
  • ENERGY FREEDOM ACT: Ted Cruz Introduces Bill for Energy Independence
  • Consequences of Biden Killing the Keystone Pipeline

About Us

  • About Young Research
  • Archives
  • Contributors

Our Partners

  • Richard C. Young & Co.
  • Richardcyoung.com

Copyright © 2022 | Terms & Conditions

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.