I believe these facts to be true:
* dividends are paid out of a company's equity
* as a shareholder, you're only getting your own capital back (no gains)
* the exchange deducts the dividend from the share price once paid (see example below)
Example: You have 10 shares worth $10 each, or a total investment of $100 (10 shares x $10).
You receive a dividend of $1 per share. That's $10 cash in your pocket (10 shares x $1); however, at the same time your shares go down in value by one dollar to $9 a share. Thus, you now have:
$10 cash in your pocket plus:
ten shares at $9 each worth a total of $90.
After the dividend, you STILL are worth $100, yet the governement will slap you with a tax bill on your dividend.
WHY? WHY? WHY? Someone PLEASE answer this. This is madness.
Thanks.
2006-07-08
11:22:24
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8 answers
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asked by
Max Power
1
in
United States