This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Wednesday, March 30, 2022.

I'm Caleb Brown.

President Biden wants to levy a massive new tax on America's wealthiest households

and specifically tax the unrealized gains on assets held by those taxpayers.

Cato's Chris Edwards says no other country does this and such a plan would be a disaster

for exactly the kinds of investments that keep companies and

economy strong.

In the United States of America, we tax income.

We tax capital gains when people sell assets.

And what is Joe Biden proposing that is so,

you know, it seems like a small thing, but it's a radical thing to tax unrealized capital gains, taxing assets that have not

been sold.

Well, in the Biden administration's budget for 2023, the administration proposes a new 20% minimum tax for billionaires,

people who have wealth over $100 million according to the administration.

They would be subject to a 20% tax on their income,

plus all their unrealized capital gains, believe it or not. So if you had their 2 billion in wealth and she had let's say the wealth her

business earnings went up by 200 million this year

unrealized it says you know it's it's a private business holding.

The Biden administration said she should be subject to a 20% tax on that,

$200 million in the unrealized increase in her business valuation. I've said this is a completely crackers

strategy, tax strategy, no other high-income country, no other country in the world that

I know taxes unrealized capital gains like this

...