Mass. Candidate Favors Hike In Capital Gains Tax

GLEN JOHNSON

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate and multimillionaire Stephen Pagliuca said Wednesday the federal capital gains tax should be raised from 15 percent to 20 percent, adding that the rich should pay an equitable share of the country's bills.

A co-owner of the Boston Celtics, Pagliuca said the tax hike would not deter investment while helping to pay down the country's $1.5 trillion budget deficit and $13 trillion debt.

"If you went crazy and raised the capital gains tax to 30 or 40 percent, yes, it would cut off investment. That would be a very bad thing to do. But in that (lower) range, you can create revenue. That revenue comes from the wealthiest Americans," Pagliuca said during an interview on WTKK-FM.

Further strumming a populist chord, Pagliuca said he disagreed with the Bush-era tax cuts.

"I think it got too far out of control in terms of squeezing the middle class and there were too many breaks, and I didn't believe in the trickle down," he said.

Pagliuca is among four Democrats vying to succeed the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who died Aug. 25 of brain cancer. Party primaries to whittle the field of candidates are set for Dec. 8. The special election is scheduled for Jan. 19.