"The scam of income tax is that it's progressive on paper but not in practice."
Perfectly put. It's always bothered me that the tax brackets don't continue on in a logarithmic fashion, e.g. new brackets at 1.5 million, 15 million, 150 million, etc.
Perfectly put. It's always bothered me that the tax brackets don't continue on in a logarithmic fashion, e.g. new brackets at 1.5 million, 15 million, 150 million, etc.
I don't think stepped-up basis should go away though, otherwise it's just the government getting a second cut of the inflation it causes.
The bigger issue for society is that our equity markets just don't have any real risk of losing your lunch anymore, so these strategies emerge.
(another one in the same vein is that when you donate an appreciated asset, you get a tax deduction of the unrealized value)