It also means that taxes will be owed when the value of a home appreciates, even though it has not been sold. ~ from the link by Amy

Property taxes are already assessed at current market value, effectively taxing homeowners on an unrealized gain. That's part of the reason California taxpayers voted for Prop 13. However, property taxes serve as more of a local use tax than a federal income tax.

Taxing unrealized gains on investments will destroy investing as a wealth-building mechanism for the middle and lower classes, forcing everyone not already a billionaire to try and build wealth using a .4% CD (4 month CD at BofA as of October 25, 2021); making those folks even more dependent upon the government's retirement plan. You know, the one that will be flat broke by 2034. Say good bye to IRA and 401K savings with employer matching funds.

This scheme will also serve to make union and government jobs attractive, as those jobs promise a pension upon retirement.

Like the plan to spy on bank accounts with at least $600 in transactions in any given year, this scheme will hit the middle and lower classes harder than it ever hits the intended target, billionaires. Even adjusted to $10,000, it will hit the middle and lower classes, ostensibly not the target. If you pay over $834 per month in rent, you have over $10,000 in annual transactions from your account, inviting the IRS to snoop on your activities funded from that account.

I sure could use a few mean tweets, stocked grocery stores, and 2 bucks a gallon gas right now.

"I wouldn’t call that a wealth tax, but it would help get at capital gains, which are an extraordinarily large part of the incomes of the wealthiest individuals and right now escape taxation until they’re realized,” Yellen said. ~ from the link by Amy

Um, Janet, unrealized capital gains are, by definition, not income. Once realized they are income, and taxable. No one can spend an unrealized gain, not even a billionaire.

Any investment can lose value. All it takes is a bad earnings report, an announcement of an investigation into accounting practices, a market shift, obsolescence of a main product, or any one of dozens of things that can sour the market on a company.

In the meantime, what happened to Yellen? She was a decent, if a little too Keynesian, Fed Chair but, since joining the Biden administration, she has become little more than a minion, one with a Bidenesque miscomprehension of basic economics.

Who says any of this is "intended" to impact billionaires?

Liars, that's who. And the idiotic.

Not one measure to limit wealth has ever made it easier on the poor for longer than it takes to get their vote.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the most savage and corrupt nations are still wealthy. In the USA, it would behoove us to realize that the IRS has a SWAT team. YOU are GOING to PAY.

Will I be able to deduct unrealized stock losses on my current taxes under this plan? This is rhetorical question because I know the answer will be a big fucking not from the greedy government.

Humm unrealized capital gains. Sounds like a wealth tax to me.

"In the meantime, what happened to Yellen?" ~Conan

The mask came off. That is all.

Conan..."Taxing unrealized gains on investments will destroy investing as a wealth-building mechanism for the middle and lower classes, forcing everyone not already a billionaire to try and build wealth using a .4% CD (4 month CD at BofA as of October 25, 2021); making those folks even more dependent upon the government's retirement plan."

Also, there are multiple aspects of the Dem plan which would act the inhibit individual investment in startups...by people at *all* income levels. To the Dems, this would be a *benefit*, since innovation investments would increasingly be those directed by the government and steered toward politically-favored industries, technologies, and groups.

Hate to break it to everyone, but if you have an ordinary stock portfolio, this is how it already works, sort of. When you sell then buy some shares, the capital gains are "realized" and you owe taxes. This inhibits one from changing where the money is invested. I did this one time not realizing this and owed a bunch. When the stocks went down I had a reported loss but could only deduct $3000/yr as a loss. Like gambling, gains are taxed but not so much losses deducted.
Sales tax and property tax come out of a company even if they make no money that year.
An economy cannot grow or give raises unless someone makes a profit and has cash to invest in new stores/trucks etc. The dems seem determined to not understand this.

CC, the difference is she wants to tax unrealized gains too. Essentially a wealth tax.

David Foster at October 25, 2021 9:13 AM

Enjoyed the "hidalgo in Spain" reference in your linked column.

This is just the latest reminder that the government considers the money YOU earn to be ITS money, some of which it generously allows you to keep.

Conan..."Enjoyed the "hidalgo in Spain" reference in your linked column"

Thanks! Biden's rambling about his past reminded me of Spears' description of Petain reading his old speeches at a time of crisis.

Biden's rambling about his past reminded me of Spears' description of Petain reading his old speeches at a time of crisis. ~ David Foster at October 25, 2021 12:19 PM

Everything I've read about the French collapse in World War II indicates Petain was far too old and out of it to be put in charge of the chaos that was engulfing France. Yet he was. I don't know if that's because French politicians were unaware of how far gone he was, or if they simply didn't care. And if they didn't care, is it because they thought he would be controllable or because they wanted a scapegoat for the inevitable surrender?

Petain was appointed Prime Minister by President Lebrun after the government had retreated to Bordeaux, a place Adam Gropnik described in From Paris to the Moon as "the town where France goes to give up."

France's collaboration with the Nazis earned Petain a life prison sentence after the war. It was conveniently forgotten at his trial that the Cabinet and the President had also wanted to ask Germany for an armistice in 1940.

I suggest that we trial this approach on just Congressmen and any member of the Administration in the Senior Executive Service levels and above (e.g. Presidential appointees). Oh, and anyone associated with the Federal Reserve.

A ten-year trial ought to just about do it.

Umm... there is another factor which makes this even more heinous - and it's invisible:

Inflation, and other devaluations of the dollar, automatically seize money from the citizen, because the raw number goes up.

We'd all get hosed by this. Market fluctuations have cranked my house's value by 30% in a single month. I can't be the only one.

-----

I am amused when someone says, "The price of gold is going up!"

Part of that is the dollar going down. Unless the asset in question is compared to other currencies, you're not being careful. Just thinking the dollar is a standard is iffy at best.

If you want a somewhat shocking look at how entire nations go crazy about money, look past the Zimbabwean dollar and look at the Brazilian cruciero. Oof.

President Biden claims that his trillion dollar package won’t cost anything. But his administration now wants to tax people on money they do not have. What in the hell is happening to us?

All these financial worries will disappear once we stimulate the economy with a new war.

So ... 2022 or thereabouts.

Biden Reassures Taiwan 'Invasion Is Just Part Of The Process'

https://babylonbee.com/news/biden-reassures-taiwan-chinese-invasion-is-just-part-of-the-process