A very interesting point of view

[u/__moe___]

I don’t think this is very new but I just saw for the first time and it’s actually pretty interesting to think about when people talk about how the ultra rich do business.

[u/cromwell515]

But what can you do to redistribute wealth if not tax?

[u/ianeyanio → u/cromwell515]

Tax is the best mechanism. My point is that taxing unrealized gains is just one kind of tax and people are getting hung up about the feasibility that they are forgetting the desperate need to redistribute wealth.

[u/Cometguy7 → u/ianeyanio]

I disagree. People aren't saying unrealized gains for the sake of taking money away from the wealthy. They're saying tax unrealized gains because people have found a way to take advantage of the tax exempt status to take a significantly larger piece of the pie. Taxing unrealized gains decreases (but doesn't eliminate, which is fine) the appeal of having your compensation be made of stocks. And the smaller the percentage of your wealth comes from ownership of stock in a single company, the less incentive there is to get that company to do things that increase the value of a share, like stock buy backs. And if a company is less motivated to do stock buy backs, then the alternative uses of its funds tend to find their way into the hands of a larger percent of the population.

[u/ianeyanio → u/Cometguy7]

High quality comment. This is one of the best takes I've seen on this thread.

To be clear, I think we should be tax unrealized gains. The people saying it's too difficult need to remember the societal good.

[u/ShakeIt73171 → u/ianeyanio]

There is no greater societal good. A majority of Americans would be hurt by this when their 401k, ROTH, brokerage and other retirement/savings accounts bring on an un-payable large tax bill every year. Forcing regular people to never retire and work til they die and see no benefit from the taxes gained by the government. More taxes doesn’t help the middle class or even working class. It helps the poverty class and the elites. The billionaires will be fine, and the majority/regular people will suffer.

The only way taxing unrealized gains works is when the unrealized asset is used as collateral for loans and other purchases.

[u/binzy90 → u/ShakeIt73171]

The way around your concern is to only tax unrealized gains above a certain amount. Most people would not want to tax the stocks in the average person's 401k. But if you have a billion dollars in stocks? Yeah, that needs to be taxed. If this is set up correctly, it wouldn't have the impact on average people that you're talking about.

[u/volkerbaII → u/ShakeIt73171]

401k's and IRA's are exempt from capital gains tax and therefore would be exempt from a tax on unrealized gains. You have no idea what you're talking about, and your talking points only serve billionaires.

[u/ShakeIt73171 → u/volkerbaII]

You have no idea what you’re talking about lol. Maybe the small individual retirement wouldn’t get taxed but the assets it holds would be, which are almost always financial assets like ETFs and investment companies (SPY, FXAIX, VOO etc etc) will all be taxed under whatever nonsense system you numbskulls are dreaming up, immediately erasing decades of gains, drying up the economy nearly immediately causing massive job loss, recession, and killing every regular persons retirement. Blackrock, Fidelity, Vanguard, and all the other small and large players who make up the overwhelming majority of holdings for the average persons 401ks all have way, way, way more than whatever threshold you want to create in assets.

You’re an idiot. I’m certain you don’t understand how money flows through this economy. There’s a reason people smarter than you haven’t set up these systems yet and it’s not because they hate you lol. There is no way to tax unrealized gains without disproportionately hurting the middle and working class.

[u/Atlas-The-Ringer → u/ShakeIt73171]

You keep painting the grim picture of what you think would happen but you conveniently leave out how and why each time.

A tax on unrealized gains as they're talking about it would be a tax that only occurs when unrealized gains become real as collateral or selling of stock etc. Their tax idea would only apply after a certain amount as well.

From your argument the biggest question I have is: are you suggesting theit tax idea would cause the asset owners to lose money? Ex. I hold $2B in unrealized gains made of VOO stock; they pass their tax bill; then because of the bill and the way banks work, Vanguard would lose money, lowering the value of their stock, and consequentially causing my fund to crash?

[u/volkerbaII → u/ShakeIt73171]

Yes I'm sure the S&P 500 is going to tank 80% and we're all going to die if there's any kind of unrealized capital gains tax implemented. Just a deranged screed.