Your link didn't work, but I found it, from the Cato Institute, LOL, not exactly an unbiased source, let's run with it.
original article,
Source document,
From the source document,
Taxpayers with wealth greater than the threshold would be required to report to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on an annual basis, separately by asset class, the total basis and total estimated value (as of December 31 of the taxable year) of their assets in each specified asset class, and the total amount of their liabilities. Tradable assets (for example, publicly traded stock) would be valued using end-of-year market prices. Taxpayers would not have to obtain annual, market valuations of non-tradable assets. Instead, non-tradable assets would be valued using the greater of the original or adjusted cost basis, the last valuation event from investment,borrowing, or financial statements, or other methods approved by the Secretary. Valuations of non-tradable assets would not be required annually and would instead increase by a conservative floating annual return (the five-year Treasury rate plus two percentage points) in between valuations. The IRS may offer avenues for taxpayers to appeal valuations, such as through appraisal. This reporting also would be used to determine if the taxpayer is eligible to be treated as “illiquid.” Taxpayers would be treated as illiquid if tradeable assets held directly or indirectly by the taxpayer make up less than 20 percent of the taxpayer’s wealth. Taxpayers who are treated asilliquid may elect to include only unrealized gain in tradeable assets in the calculation of theirminimum tax liability. However, taxpayers making this election would be subject to a deferral charge upon, and to the extent of, the realization of gains on any non-tradeable assets. The deferral charge would not exceed ten percent of unrealized gains.
There is a lot of shit going on here. The elimination of the step-up is the biggest thing, and for good reason. The Cato Institute is depending on your ignorance. As the source article demonstrates, many billionaires find themselves paying an effective tax rate in the single digits, if they pay taxes at all. Teachers, cops, firefighters, and secretaries, they all pay a higher marginal tax rate. How does that happen?
So, your Dad started this kickass business. He built it up over time, and he never sold jackshit. He passes down millions of dollars worth of assets to you, all capital gains, none taxed because you got the step up. So you own millions of dollars worth of assets, paid taxes on none of them, and you like to spend your time raising horses, supporting charities, and hot-air ballooning. You have no damn interest whatsoever in the business your father built. But, you need money. You don't sell those capital assets, well maybe a few, just to generate some taxfree cash, remember, the step-up. Instead of selling, well you must borrow against the value of those assets. The loan proceeds are not taxed, and you get to deduct the interest expense from the company income. Then you die, pass the assets on, your descendants get the step-up, and no taxes are paid. Rinse and repeat.
That shit needs to end, like flippin yesterday. It screws all you poor paupers, and you are too stupid to realize it. My parents inherited two farms, both nestled at the foot of the Blue Ridge mountains. The maternal inheritance, a King's grant. Cost basis, ZERO. Hundreds of acres, granted by the King before this country was even a country. Thankfully, it was in the Granville District. Dad promptly sold both farms. Seven figures, plus, tax damn free because he sold them almost immediately after inheriting them. The second farm was built with hard work, sound crop strategies, and a damn good poker hand. Again, seven figures, again, got the step up, again, no taxes paid on the gain.
So Dad drops all that revenue into an investment portfolio. Mom is sitting pretty. But she is as tight as a drum, refuse to spend much, and in the end, that portfolio is going to continue to grow, pass on to me and my siblings, and we aren't going to have to pay jackshit in capital gains taxes, we get the step up. Like I said, rinse and repeat. We just borrow money against that portfolio, deduct the interest expense from our legitimate income, and pay nothing in taxes.
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And then, well the shit just starts getting sick. Hell, I am just waiting to get my inheritance, I don't need to jackshit other than survive. Once I get the step-up, well I have millions of dollar available, tax-free. But like I said, it starts getting sick. I married well, Scottish royalty, and the wife is set to inherit dozens of oil wells in Texas. Damn skippy, I will borrow against the revenues, refuse to sell the assets, and pass them on to my children. I am beginning to wonder why they even bother working for a living. That is our system, it is fubared and tilted to an extraordinary degree to those that have.