> Capital Gain taxes are delayed until you actually sell the stock.
> Squabbling over a wealth tax is not useful.
I agree that a wealth tax is not the way to go. But there are other ways to skin this cat. The big takeaway I got from the article missing in your summary is that the wealthy take loans secured by unrealized gains in order to finance their lifestyle.
So what if we found a way to make a rule that using unrealized gains as collateral for a loan was, for tax purposes, the same as realizing the gains? (You might need to tweak the rule for fairness but the basic point remains.)
I think aggressively closing loopholes in the current code could go a long way (you mentioned a couple, like charitable donations and tax havens).
I agree that a wealth tax is not the way to go. But there are other ways to skin this cat. The big takeaway I got from the article missing in your summary is that the wealthy take loans secured by unrealized gains in order to finance their lifestyle.
So what if we found a way to make a rule that using unrealized gains as collateral for a loan was, for tax purposes, the same as realizing the gains? (You might need to tweak the rule for fairness but the basic point remains.)
I think aggressively closing loopholes in the current code could go a long way (you mentioned a couple, like charitable donations and tax havens).