this a million times. Land easy, already being taxed. Any regulated financial instrument, also easy, take the minimum average yearly price of held assets. Tricky things like privately held companies, maybe we solve that one later, but even then there are valuations made at various points, anchor to those, be conservative in every case. If the gov primarily exists to enforce property rights... then people should pay in proportion to the rights that are being enforced on their behalf.

> Tricky things like privately held companies, maybe we solve that one later

So I spend 30 minutes to set up an LLC and then transfer your assets to that LLC. Now, I don't hold the assets; I hold a stake in a privately-held company.

Ultimately, the solution you come up with needs to be at least somewhat airtight; otherwise, it just penalizes people who spend less money on tax advisors. The generation of income is a fairly well-defined point where it's pretty easy to apply clear rules. The acquisition of interest in some sort of an opaque asset is a lot harder to define and monitor. So I buy some gold bars or valuable paintings and stash them in the attic. How do you tax me on that?

And hey, here's a cool one: if my parent owns a company and puts it in their will that it's mine when they die, is that promise an asset I owe taxes on ahead of the time?

We already value private companies with a 409a valuation.