Question

A municipal bondholder buys a 5 percent coupon annual payment muni bond at a price of $4,900. The bond has a $5,000 face value. In one year she sells the bond for $4,975. The appropriate capital gains tax rate is 15 percent and her ordinary income tax rate is 28 percent. What is her after-tax rate of return?

Answer 1

Answer:

6.4%

Explanation:

we need to divide this investor's income in two parts:

1. dividends are not taxed = $5,000 x 5% = $250
2. capital gains = (selling price - basis) x (1 - tax rate) = ($4,975 - $4,900) x (1 - 15%) = $75 x 85% = $63.75

total after-tax gains = $250 + $63.75 = $313.75 / $4,900 = 0.064 ≈ 6.4%