In this article, we analyze Auerbach's (1991) proposal of a retrospective capital gains tax, which is equivalent to an accrual tax on an ex-ante basis. Using a continuous-time model with stochastic interest rates, we prove that equivalence holds even if the risk-free asset return is correlated...

The tax rate on capital gains of equity securities has varied substantially over time and correlates negatively with realized capital gains and collected taxes. Our model shows that investors who anticipate the dynamics of the capital gains tax rate in their bond-equity mix, realize more gains...