Elizabeth Warren’s bipartisan bill banning stock trading on Capitol Hill has a little-noticed provision that could save lawmakers millions of dollars worth of capital gains taxes — and Nancy Pelosi is signaling she likes it.
On the face of it, the forthcoming Ban on Congressional Stock Ownership Act from Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) would be the most stringent proposed crackdown on stock trading to date. It wouldn’t just ban members of Congress and their spouses from trading stocks and require them to put their assets in a blind trust — like another popular Democratic proposal. It also would require them to sell off all their individual stock holdings altogether, sources familiar with the bill told The Post.
Nevertheless, according to a less-noticed provision in the bill, lawmakers who convert their stocks would also receive a massive sweetener: They would be able convert their stocks into broad-based investment funds or Treasury bonds while deferring any capital gains taxes until they sell off the new assets — and if they die before selling the assets, the taxes would be waived altogether.