Dividend Tax Hike? Don't Sweat It!

By Tom Lydon: Taxes are a sticking point going into the Presidential election, and the tax debate will put income generating stocks and municipal bond exchange traded funds into focus.With the Bush-era 15% dividend tax rate slated to expire at the end of the year, many investors are concerned that higher tax rates would significantly cut into the returns out of dividend-paying equities.

It’s a sign of how well relentless propagandizing works that Joe Stiglitz has to devote a lengthy op-ed in the New York Times to debunking the idea that our income tax system, whose salient characteristic is low tax burdens for the rich, is good for anyone other than the rich.

By Valuentum: By Brian Nelson, CFA

By Ironman at Political Calculations: Yesterday (Wednesday), we observed that investors have shifted their forward-looking focus in setting today's stock prices backward from the first quarter of 2013 to the fourth quarter of 2012 instead. Today, we'll explore one of the big reasons why: the looming dividend cliff. WSJ's Jason Zweig explains (emphasis ours):

By Tom Lydon: If we witness another political gridlock going into the "fiscal cliff" next year, investors may see a hefty tax hike on dividend-paying exchange traded funds. Nevertheless, dividend investors shouldn't jump ship too quickly as the alternatives are still rather lackluster.

By James Kwak