Number: RL31824
Title: Dividend Tax Relief: Effects on Economic Recovery, Long-Term Growth, and the Stock Market
Authors: Jane G. Gravelle, Government and Finance Division 
Abstract: Several objectives were advanced for the President's 2003 proposal for dividend relief to eliminate double taxation of corporate source income, including "creating jobs" (suggestive of a short-run stimulative effect), enhancing long- term growth and efficiency, "fairness," and increasing the value of the stock market. Dividend relief was enacted on a temporary basis in 2003 and was extended in 2006. Elimination of the tax is a focus of some tax reform proposals. Dividend relief was not considered in 2008.
Pages: 25
Date: April 1, 2008