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Given increased income and wealth inequality, much recent attention has been devoted to proposals to increase taxes on the wealthy (such as imposing a tax on accumulated wealth). Because capital income is highly skewed toward the ultrawealthy, methods of increasing taxes on capital income provide alternative approaches for addressing inequality through the tax system. Marking the value of assets to their market prices allows for taxing asset appreciation annually instead of waiting until the assets are sold and the gain is realized. Several other approaches to taxing capital income that are part of the policy discussions share key properties.

All proposals seeking to increase and accelerate the tax imposed on capital income raise design and implementation questions. A keynote address and two panel discussions will deepen the conversation by addressing the following:

• What are the challenges of mark-to-market taxation?
• How would assets be valued each year?
• Would all assets be subject to this new tax regime?
• How would a taxpayer who hasn’t sold an asset pay the associated capital gains tax?
• Could the Internal Revenue Service easily administer these types of taxes?
• Are some proposals better than others?

Keynote

• Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) @janschakowsky

Speakers

• Lily Batchelder, Robert C. Kopple Family Professor of Taxation, New York University School of Law @lilybatch
• Lucy Farr, Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP 
• William G. Gale, Codirector, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center; Arjay and Frances Fearing Miller Chair in Federal Economic Policy, Brookings Institution @WilliamGale2
• Jane Gravelle, Senior Specialist in Economic Policy, Congressional Research Service
• Mark J. Mazur, Robert C. Pozen Director, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center @TaxPolicyCenter
• Steven M. Rosenthal, Senior Fellow, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center @stevertax
• Karl Russo, Director in the National Economics and Statistics Practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers @PwCUS
• Michael Schler, Of Counsel, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP @Craveth
• Eric Toder, Codirector, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center @etoder

Event Materials

• Agenda
• Speaker Biographies
• Capital Gains Tax Options: Behavioral Responses and Revenues (Congressional Research Service)
• Mark-to-Market Taxation of Capital Gains (Presentation by Jane Gravelle)
• Taxing the Rich: Issues and Options (Lily Batchelder and David Kamin)

A light breakfast will be served at 8:30 a.m.

Email any questions to events@brookings.edu.