ZIRP and tax

Not good for fixed income, if this passes (and prediction markets place a greater than 75% chance of the bill passing)

March 18 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic congressional leaders would raise to 3.8 percent the Obama administration’s proposed new Medicare tax on investment income to generate an estimated $210 billion to help fund a health-care overhaul plan.

The rate is higher than the 2.9 percent President Barack Obama proposed in February. The new tax would apply to income from interest, dividends, annuities, royalties, capital gains and rents for individuals who earn more than $200,000 annually and joint filers reporting more than $250,000, according to the legislation.

“It’s a big deal,” said Clint Stretch, a tax analyst for the consulting firm Deloitte Tax LLC. “It extends dramatically the reach of the Medicare hospital insurance tax.”

The first-time Medicare tax on investment income would start in 2013. It would push tax rates on capital gains and dividends that year to 23.8 percent for high-income people if Congress goes along with Obama’s proposal to let those rates rise to 20 percent in 2011 from the current 15 percent. It would be the highest rate for long-term capital gains since 1997.