The Impact of Taxes on Dividends and Gains

If the only two things we can be certain about are death and taxes, why don’t we spend more time talking about both? While you understandably wouldn’t bring up your impending burial during Thirsty Thursdays, it’s not something we discuss much as a rule, even with our closest friends or family. Nobody wants to talk about that phantasmagoric figure floating about with a sickle, which is a fitting segue into talking about something that’s even scarier than the Grim Reaper – the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Talking Taxes

Ever notice how quickly financial pundits back away from the tax topic? “Discuss that with your accountant,” they’ll predictably say, and we find ourselves reacting in the same way when people continue asking us tax-related questions. It’s this taboo topic we get the most questions about, so let’s address the two main reasons why everyone is apprehensive about discussing taxes – complexity and liability.

Navigating Complexity

United States tax law is arguably the most complex on this planet. Federal tax rules span about 75,000 pages today, which is three times more than when President Jimmy Carter called the code “a disgrace to the human race.” That’s according to a piece by Time