Manchin and tax on unrealized capital gains

[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