What is Capital Gain?

In finance, a capital gain is profit that results from the sale or exchange of a capital asset over its purchase price. If the price of the capital asset has declined instead of appreciated, this is called a capital loss. Capital gains occur in both real assets, such as property, as well as financial assets, such as stocks or bonds. For equities, according to each national or state legislation, a large array of fiscal obligations must be respected regarding capital gains, and taxes are charged by the state over the transactions, dividends and capital gains on the stock market. However, these fiscal obligations may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction because, among other reasons, it could be assumed that taxation is already incorporated into the stock price through the different taxes companies pay to the state, or that tax free stock market operations are useful to boost economic growth