Manchin and tax on unrealized capital gains

[LiberalBear]

Someone needs to introduce Joe and his elk to the concept of property taxes. Last I checked the real estate investment in my home gets taxed every year, when the market goes up and when the market goes down. True, I can take out a loan on my home equity just like Bezos can take out a loan on his Amazon stock, difference is he does not have to pay any tax on his stock while he owns it. Sounds like another billionaire don't tax me don't tax me, tax that middle class, law abiding, hard working, family raising, not enough money to buy a senator guy who is not a member of the bourgeoisie.

[elleng]

1. 'Joe and his elk?'

Are you sure you're in the right place? or are you referring to Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia?

[LiberalBear]

2. Joe M

The title does say Manchin does it not. I am not lost. I am pointing out that tax on unrealized investment value is not some never conceived notion, it happens every time a homeowner pays property tax. Was it that hard to grasp? You may be in the wrong place my friend.

[elleng]

5. I'm in the right place, I mistakenly thought you were referring to President Biden,

who surely understands the U.S. tax structure.

[Blues Heron]

4. Ilk is obviously what he means

[unblock]

3. I did not know joe manchin had a pet elk. Fascinating.

I guess exotic pets are all the rage for people of his ilk.

[unblock]

6. I agree. Futures contracts are also marked-to-market.

It's not only possible but entirely reasonable to tax people on their accrued capital gains, at least for investments where there is a readily available, liquid market.

That said, the rich just loooove evading and deferring taxes, so they would shift more investment money to things like art where no one can really say what it's worth until they actually sell it.

A good law would address this, perhaps by requiring that upon sale, a tax becomes due for each tax year it was held, as if it had gone up in value smoothly over that period of time. But in practice, this will become just another loophole for the rich to dodge taxes.

[MichMan]

7. Property taxes aren't assessed by the Federal government

[progree]

8. I hadn't heard -- Google found this ...

Manchin shoots down Biden's new billionaire tax plan, The Hill, 3/29/22

... Manchin says he doesn’t support the president’s plan to tax the unrealized gains of billionaires, which would set a new precedent by taxing the value an asset accrues in theory before it is actually sold and converted into cash.

... Manchin’s opposition means Biden’s proposal is likely dead only a day after the White House unveiled it.

... The White House budget office in a press release Monday explained that the tax would apply only to the wealthiest 0.01 percent of households, those with more than $100 million in assets. Half the estimated revenue it would produce would come from billionaires.

“It would ensure that, in any given year, they pay at least 20 percent of their total income in Federal income taxes,” the Office of Management and Budget said.

... The problem with taxing just the regular income of billionaires is that many of the nation’s richest individuals, such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, have been able to pay little or nothing in income tax by not declaring income.

Instead, the ultra-rich often can take out loans secured by the value of their assets to finance their lavish lifestyles.

“Here’s what they do. They go to their accountant. They tell their accountant, ‘Make sure I don’t make any income, any salary.’ And then they say, ‘Make sure I can buy, borrow and die.’ And nobody knew anything about that years ago, and now people are pretty up on it,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who has announced his own proposal to tax the unrealized gains of billionaires.

More: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/600282-manchin-shoots-down-bidens-new-billionaire-tax-plan

[peppertree]

9. One can't help suspecting such a tax would touch Manchini's moolah just a little bit

And that, you do not do.