Billionaire Taxes Again
March 28, 2022

This essay refers to story that can be found in the link below where, once again, the government is looking to the tax the unrealized gains of the very rich:

Biden to Propose Tax Aimed at Billionaires Unrealized Gains

Look at the headline, then read the body of the text. Headline reads "billionaires" but the proposal is aimed at households with a net worth over $100 million. This is a gigantic difference and I don't think the disconnect is an accident...and understand they're not talking about an income of over $100 million, they mean a total net worth; if a component of your wealth is unrealized capital gains, you will be taxed at a 20% rate on those gains. Hopefully, enough of us notice. Next, it'll be over $50 million then $10 million and so on down the ladder. The final play will be ANYONE who has had an asset of any kind increase in value over a certain threshold will be taxed on that increase. That means your home, your classic car, your baseball card collection...anything. And remember, we're not talking about when you sell the asset; its mere increase in value will trigger the tax. Of course, it goes without saying that if that asset depreciates, you will not be reimbursed by the IRS.

But, if you examine what an "increase in value" really means, some clarity may emerge. Reported inflation is currently running around 8%, meaning the value of our money, roughly speaking is declining, on an annual basis, by that rate. So really, are the things you own becoming more valuable intrinsically or is it only that the currency in which that value is denominated declining? If your house was "worth" $250k last year and is suddenly "worth" $350k this year, is that increase simply the product of a hot market or is it also the result of the dollars used to mark the value of your home suddenly and rapidly becoming worth less? Probably both. Point is, the government, whose policies directly affect the value of the dollar, intend to begin taxing some of us on the inflationary effect of those policies. Cute and disgusting at the same time.

Notice how, over the past several administrations, Republican and Democrat alike, what you didn't see was a reduction in expenditure; controlling spending isn't even discussed any more. Instead, we get lawmakers telling us with a straight face that gargantuan spending measures are "fully paid for". I've heard politicians spew that line for decades yet the national debt only rises.

Please don't misunderstand me; I believe everyone should pay their fair share of tax based on their income and there are likely inequities in the tax code that rich people use to their advantage (I say this with no facts to back it up). That's not what I'm writing about, here; I'm specifically writing about taxing unrealized gains: things you own -and not sold- that have simply "appreciated" in value. This very concept is the product of a government that cannot control its own profligacy and now begins to look to seizure, confiscation to satisfy its appetite.