Biden eyeing hike in US capital gains tax to over 40% - Bloomberg

America's President is set to lay out plans to nearly double US taxes on capital gains to 39.6%.

Citing people familiar with the proposal, Bloomberg reported that, coming on top of the Obama administration's levy on investment income to finance so-called Obamacare, the top federal government tax rate for wealthy investors could hit 43.4%.

The current marginal tax rate for capital gains stands at 20%.

Joe Biden's proposed hike would also mean taxing returns on financial assets more than wages and salaries.

Some Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee have claimed that taxes on capital gains, wages and wealth should be equally taxed.

In those states with the highest taxes, such as California and New York, the taxman's take from capital gains could rise to 52.22% and 56.7%, respectively, Bloomberg reported.

The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center had estimated that the capital gains tax that Biden had proposed during the election campaign would raise $370bn over the next decade.