Harris’s unrealized gains tax was to apply only to taxpayers with a net wealth of over $100 million. So it would have had no implications for a typical startup worker hoping for an eventual equity payday.

Given that you yourself mention the figure of $100 million, did you perhaps misunderstand the proposal and think that it applied to unrealized gains on any asset theoretically worth more than $100 million? The criteria proposed were not such that merely having share options in a private company with some theoretical $100 million valuation would classify you as having $100 million in wealth for the purposes of the tax.