Harris' tax on unrealized gains applies only to people with assets over $100M, says Bharat Ramamurti

Bharat Ramamurti, former National Economic Council deputy director under President Biden and informal economic adviser to the Harris for President campaign, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the Harris-Walz economic agenda, details of Harris' tax plan, and more.

[deepspire]

The income tax was originally only for the ultra-wealthy, but here we are.

[ube]

"We have a revenue problem" no YOU have a spending problem

[KluverBucy]

Today, it's 100 million. Later, it will be 1 million.

[MRGCMNYC]

Paying tax on UNREALIZED GAINS makes absolutely no sense! Who's coming up with these silly economic plans?! How the hell can you tax people on income they haven't actually made?!

[bb]

It's a terrible idea because you have to sell the assets which produced the unrealized capital gains to pay the taxes. They're going to find a way to make it apply to anyone with any amount of money, small or large. This is a deliberate act, fully knowing the damage it will cause.

[laynemcdonald]

We don't have a Tax Revenue problem. We have a Spending Problem. Please get the facts correct.

[chatgpt-nr]

they said the same thing in early 1900s when income tax was only for millionaires. Then is slowly became something everyone had to pay

[flybirds]

What they are not saying is that those 60, 000 people hold large amounts of stocks and if Harris starts taxing their unrealized gains it would force many to invest outside the country and that would drain the stock market!

[Barweezy]

Still doesn’t make it constitutional. Look no further than the 16th Amendment - unrealized gains do not count as income and are not taxable by Congress.

[debbert]

How about cut most of the federal government departments by 75%. Then the budget savings needs to pay off the debt.

[codyvanderslice]

Unrealized capital gains are not income and should not be subject to taxation. This is a slippery slope that should not be tested.

[hrny]

The income tax originally only applies to the “1% of the 1%, ” but over the years they lowered the threshold, and inflation (money printing) brought everyone closer to those thresholds.

[bills.]

What about capital loss? I lost 100k on stock, but I can only deduct 3k, what about unrealized loss during stock crash? Will government cover the loss?

[sober-southoftheborderever]

This is an absurd! Easy to resolve: vote for Trump!!

[blueharvest]

That's how it will start. By the time I'm ready to retire it will 40k and up.

[KJB-gnmr]

Can't tax your way out of over spending, doof !

[Goodchicken_lameducks]

I'll explain 4 policies of hers I'm against as an Independent voter.

1) Abortion. She can't do anything about it. That was Supreme Court decision which is entirely separate from the Presidency. If Biden and her had the power to change that they would have already. That's just cheap talk with no substance.

2) 25k for first time home buyers. Where will this money come from? New taxes? cutting other programs? If so, which ones? We are 35 trillion in debt we don't have the funds for this. Not to mention 25k won't get you home anymore. It might if you live in rural Arkansas or West Virginia but any major city that isn't even a drop in the bucket for what you need. Where do most disadvantaged minorities live in this country? Major cities. Also, when you increase competition without increasing supply you will drive home prices even higher, which only benefits people who already have homes not those trying to get one.

3) Price gouging on groceries. There is a supply line for groceries. A farmer has to plant and harvest the food, then it gets trucked to packaging facility, then it gets trucked to a distribution center, then it gets trucked to the grocery store. What do all of those phases have in common? Diesel fuel needed for the tractors and for the trucks hauling them from place to place. Diesel fuel is 50 percent more expensive today than 4 years ago. Meaning all of those phases need to raise their prices to continue operating. You can't force the grocery store to sell at a loss. They would go out of business. Or they need to purchase less food. Which causes job layoffs the whole way back down the supply chain. That's not good. Also, less food for the same amount of demand means the price of food will actually go up.

4) Capital gains and Unrealized gains tax: 20 percent of households have $0 saved up for retirement. This number is increasing because less and less people under the age of 35 are actually saving for retirement. It's also estimated that around 60 percent that do have a retirement won't have enough saved to live off the rest of their life. Now you want to make it more difficult for people to save for retirement by taxing their portfolios more? The easy way to circumvent the assets over $100M would be to split things up and pass things down to kids or put them in a trust which most rich people have anyways. Then you don't technically own those assets. The trust owns those assets you are just an executor of the trust.

This is why we needed a primary vote. So we could have seen these economic policies up front and someone would have had the ability to challenge them. Btw, before you get all "But Trump" on me. I'm an Independent voter so if you are going to reply to this please stick with building a case against the policies I listed above.

[maverickmegastar]

Oh please!

This is one of the worst tax propositions ever…

Stop blabbering talking points..

[timbutler]

A tax on unrealized capital gains will devastate the country. Impacts everyone, rich and poor.

[rogertessman]

You go on believing that it'll be only on those with $100M and up. It'll be down to the middle class in a few years.