Biden Administration Proposes Taxing Billionaires’ ‘Theoretical Income’ to Pay for Spending Bill
http://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/10/25/biden-administration-proposes-taxing-billionaires-theoretical-income-to-pay-for-spending-bill/
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen proposed taxing billionaires’ unrealized capital gains to fund President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion spending bill — a bill which the president has claimed costs $0.
During an interview with CNN on Sunday, Yellen touted the idea of taxing the unrealized capital gains of the wealthiest 1 percent, though she claimed the measure would not count as a “wealth tax.”
She said:
Um, I think what’s under consideration is a proposal that Sen. [Ron] Wyden [D-OR] and the Senate Finance Committee have been looking at that would, um, impose, um, a tax on unrealized capital gains, um, on liquid assets held by extremely wealthy individuals, billionaires.
I wouldn’t call that a wealth tax, but it would help get at capital gains, which are an extraordinary large part of the incomes of the wealthiest individuals, and right now escape taxation until they’re realized. And often they are only realized in a death, benefitting from a so-called step-up of basis.
So, it’s not a wealth tax, but, um, a tax on unrealized capital gains of exceptionally wealthy individuals.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), in contrast to Yellen’s claim, called the kind of tax Democrats are considering a “wealth tax.”
“We probably will have a wealth tax,” Pelosi told CNN on Sunday.
According to Americans for Tax Reform, the “mark-to-market regime” would force Americans to pay taxes every year on their liquid assets — things that can be sold easily — which include things like stocks, collectibles, tchotchkes. If the liquid assets rise in value — which could be influenced by factors like rampant inflation — the owner would be required to pay a tax on the perceived higher value, before it has even been sold for actual profit. The value may not stay at that high value, however, and it is unclear whether the proposal would make up for “unrealized losses.”
The advocacy group cited a May 2021 study, which found that Americans oppose taxing unrealized gains by a ratio of 3-1.
Researchers found in the survey with 5,000 participants:
Respondents strongly prefer to wait to tax gains on publicly-traded stocks until sale versus taxing unsold gains each year: 75% to 25%. Though this opposition is strongest among those who are wealthier or own stocks, all demographic groups oppose taxing unsold gains by large margins. This opposition persists and is often strengthened when looking across a variety of other assets and policy framings.
According to the report, participants largely rejected the idea “even after they heard arguments in favor of this kind of taxation,” even if they identified as Democrats, and even if they did not own stock themselves. ...
Morons! Some investments have readily ascertainable market values from day to day (e.g., stocks that are traded on established exchanges), but not all investments are that easy to value. So, the question of valuation will come into play, which can be and usually is a highly contentious issue. Also, the values of investments go down, as well as up, so are you going to give taxpayers the benefit of unrealized losses or are you going to force them to wait until those losses are actually recognized through sales? Somehow, knowing how greedy you Democrat assholes are, I suspect unrealized losses won't be given the same treatment as unrealized gains. And, oh by the way, are you still going to apply the $3,000 annual cap on net capital losses???
Of course this is a "wealth tax" ... because you are no longer taxing actual transactions in this case ... you are taxing the supposed value of a taxpayer's assets. Those assets or portions, thereof, would have to be sold in order to pay this "wealth tax." This is a ridiculous overreach by you Democrat assholes to satiate your Marxist desire to spend other people's money. And, if you think we believe that you're only going to do this to "billionaires" ... ROTFLMAO! ... we know you all too well ... you'll be back for more from anyone and everyone in no time at all!
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
| 
