Tax professionals in the state are advising high-income clients who might want to sell stocks in the next couple of years to consider doing it now.

If Sen. Barack Obama is elected president in November, he has promised to usher in a series of tax reforms, including raising tax rates on capital gains - the profit realized from the sale of stocks, bonds or other assets - for the wealthiest Americans.

The maximum rate on long-term capital gains - gains on assets that were held for more than a year - was reduced in 2003 to 15 percent. Sen. John McCain has pledged to extend the tax cut past 2010, when it is set to expire, according to an analysis of the candidates' tax plans by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

Obama has promised to bring the rate back up to 20 percent for married couples that make more than $250,000, or individuals who make more than $200,000.

Joel Olbricht, the president of the New Hampshire Society of Certified Public Accountants, said he's had more clients writing to him about tax issues this year than ever before.

His firm sent out a letter last summer encouraging clients to speak with their accountants now about the impact the upcoming elections could have on their taxes.

"It's not a bad year if people were able to accelerate capital gains or sell stuff off, and they wanted to make sure they were paying the lower rate," Olbricht said.

The capital gains tax doesn't apply to stock sales within employer-sponsored retirement savings plans or individual retirement accounts; those capital gains are taxed as ordinary income only when they are distributed. That means people with 401(k)s or IRAs won't be affected by an increase.

An increase on the maximum tax rate also wouldn't have much affect on most taxpayers, according to data from the Tax Policy Center.

Fewer than one in seven individual taxpayers report taxable gains in any year. Of those individuals, 97 percent of them make less than $200,000. The 3 percent who make more than $200,000, however, represent 83 percent of all taxable capital gains.

Clients who fall into the higher income bracket and plan on selling stocks within the next year or two could avoid a significant increase if they sell now, Olbricht said. Of course, they need to look at the bigger picture and the risk involved in selling off stocks in such a volatile market, he added.

"They've got to consider whether it's the right time to sell, which of course is primary," he said. "Your financial decisions are more important than your tax issues."

Muriel Schadee, an accountant at Nathan, Wechsler & Company in Concord, said many of the firm's clients are trying to structure sale transactions before the end of the year to take advantage of the 15 percent rate. The rate is set to go back up to 20 percent by 2010 unless the next Congress decides to extend it.

Although McCain has pledged to extend the rate, and Obama has vowed to increase it, "the final law rarely ends up looking like it did in the political campaign," Schadee said.

Proposed changes would also have to be approved by Congress and could take awhile to be implemented.

Paul Burkett, a tax attorney at Rath, Young & Pignatelli, said he expects Congress won't wait until 2010 to address the laws that will expire that year. Something definitely will change next year, but those changes won't be clear until after the elections, he said.

Burkett said the firm plans to host an event after November detailing the tax plans of the winning candidate. Still, clients are aware of the proposed changes to the capital gains rates and are asking about it, he said.

"We're encouraging clients that if you have the flexibility and think you're going to liquidate an investment anyway, then do it this year," he said.

The Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, has tried to present monthly updates on the candidates' tax plans based on stump speeches and information from economic advisers.

In addition to the increase on the maximum rate on capital gains, Obama's tax plan includes permanently extending certain parts of the Bush tax cuts that affect people with incomes under $250,000, but repealing the cuts for taxpayers with higher incomes. He would also enact new and expanded targeted tax breaks for workers, retirees, homeowners, students and new farmers, according to the center's most recent report.

McCain would permanently extend all of the Bush tax cuts, increase deductions for taxpayers supporting dependents, reduce the corporate income tax rate, and allow immediate deductions for investments in certain capital equipment, the report said.

"Senator McCain's tax cuts would primarily benefit those with very high incomes, almost all of whom would receive large tax cuts that would, on average, raise their after-tax incomes by more than twice the average for all households," the report said. "In marked contrast, Senator Obama offers much larger tax breaks to low- and middle-income taxpayers and would increase taxes on high-income payers."

The recent turmoil on Wall Street, however, means any economic plan for the coming year is likely to be turned on its head, said Rick Shaffer, who hosts a radio show on WTTK-FM in Boston on personal finance.

"No matter what they say now, all bets are off because of the amount of money the federal government is going to spend to clean up this financial mess," Shaffer said. "That's going to cost hundreds of billions of dollars, and the money's got to come from somewhere, and where it's going to come from is taxpayers."