The only people it’s worth it for are the connected billionaires who can scoop up assets cheap while the rest of us end up as serfs.
The only people it’s worth it for are the connected billionaires who can scoop up assets cheap while the rest of us end up as serfs.
The 99% don’t have any unrealized gains to begin with. Even people near the top end of that scale who do have investments have all or most of them in retirement accounts where the gains eventually get taxed as income (traditional) or not at all (Roth) instead.
Nearly every homeowner has unrealized gains in their house value.
Edit: Also, all these unrealized gains of the very rich would also be taxed when transacted, like the retirement funds, but there are loopholes. They can leverage that wealth without “realizing” the value.
Unrealized gains means that the investment vehicle has increased in value since it was purchased, but hasn’t been sold at that value. Every type of investment is going to have either unrealized gains or losses until it’s sold.