Save Taxes With BOXX? It Is Too Good to Be True: Aaron Brown

Among the many too-good-to-be-true financial stories is the Alpha Architect 1-3 Month Box ETF, known by its ticker BOXX, that offers Treasury bill yields taxed at capital gains rates. For some investors that could mean paying a 20% tax on returns rather than 37% — a “saving” that’s helped draw some $1 billion in assets to the fund.

There have also been a series of warnings. Steven Rosenthal, a senior fellow in the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, thinks the tax benefits will not stand up. Elm Partners Management’s Victor Haghani and James White point out that the tax benefits will ...