Is it though? Those same unrealized gains are used by those same alleged paper-billionaires to borrow money and live lavish lifestyles ("Buy, Borrow, Die").

They literally get to eat their cake and have it too.

▲

lucaspm98 25 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Any normal person can implement the same strategy in any brokerage account.

Regardless, if that's the actual anti-social behavior we should change that tax treatment specifically, versus a broad paper wealth tax with unintended consequences.

▲

etcetcetcetceta an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

this is principally why banking exists at all, farmers needed to borrow against a harvest that hadn't yet been planted.

I'd suggest some controls or limits to it, but the lenders assume the risk ( except for all the times the public has had to bail them out) and they're grown up corporations who can decide for themselves.

I should add, that the money they borrow does get taxed when it is spent on the indulgences you make reference to.

▲

alistairSH an hour ago | parent [-]

Yes, but it isn't taxed federally as income tax, which is the problem we're probably trying to solve.

IE, every dollar I earn gets taxed twice - as income, then as sales tax. Rich guy only pays the sales tax.

And there's a fundamental difference between "borrow to keep the business running smoothly" and "borrow to buy a mega-yacht". Legally, not so much, as you say, but hell's bells, the super yacht market really shouldn't exist.

	▲	etcetcetcetceta 5 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Counter point: the (super) yacht industry employs a huge number of skilled workers who take immense pride in their craft (pun intended).