President Barack Obama announced in the lead-up to the 2015 State of the Union that he is seeking new reforms on capital gains taxes in order to help out the middle class, building on a 2007 campaign promise.

Obama unveiled plans to increase the capital gains and dividends rates for high-income households to 28 percent, the rate the White House says it was under Republican President Ronald Reagan. The top rate would apply to income over $500,000 for couples, the White House said.

The last time Congress changed capital gains taxes was when it passed a bill to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff." The bill raised taxes to 20 percent for couples earning $450,000 or individuals earning $400,000. The 20-percent taxation level was the rate under President Bill Clinton.

That rate was something of a compromise between Congress and Obama, who had promised in 2008 to increase capital gains and dividends taxes from 15 percent to 20 percent for those whose income exceeded $250,000 for couples or $200,000 for individuals.

Obama's tax proposal in the 2015 State of the Union address does not seek to reduce the income threshold for taxpayers to what he promised in the campaign. But he's now seeking a higher top rate of 28 percent.

Obama's speech also focused on closing the so-called "trust fund loophole," which refers to the way in which capital gains held on assets until death, such as large inheritances, are not taxed as income. Given Obama's pursuit of these changes to capital gains taxes, we move the promise rating from Compromise back to In the Works.