Democrat greed could force some to sell businesses to pay taxes

 Washington Examiner:

A Democratic plan to counter inequality by taxing unrealized capital gains of billionaires could harm the growth of companies and imperil their founders’ influence.

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While exact details about the plan have not been released, the idea would be to tax annually the unrealized capital gains of individuals whose wealth exceeds $1 billion.

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The plan differs from the current tax regime in that gains would be taxed even if they are not realized. Today, billionaires whose investments grow in value are taxed on those increases, known as capital gains, when assets are sold.

The new tax would apply to tradeable assets like stocks, the spokesperson said, and not nontradeable assets like real estate or closely held companies.

Many liberals have sought new forms of capital gains or wealth taxes as a means of taxing the very wealthy, who generally accrue fortunes through investments rather than through salaries. The tax would hit the ultrawealthy, but it could also have an effect on businesses. A concern among some economists and tax advocates is that under the plan, if a billionaire saw large unrealized capital gains one year, they might need to liquidate assets in order to pay that tax bill.

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This would also be a tax that will stifle growth and jobs.  Forcing payments like this would also likely hurt other shareholders who do not qualify for the tax but whose investments would lose value as huge quantities of stock are sold off to pay the tax.