Select changes in the top statutory tax rate on long-term capital gains in recent decades:
1942-67: 25 percent
1976: 39.9 percent
1979: 28 percent
1982: 20 percent
1987: 28 percent
1997: 20 percent
2003: 15 percent
2013 (x): 20 percent (plus a new 3.8 percent Medicare tax on investment income for high-income earners)
x - unless Congress alters a pending increase
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Sources: Citizens for Tax Justice, Tax Policy Center
