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.

Which is still dumb. I can incorporate a new company and give myself 100% of the shares. My friend comes along and decides he wants to give me $100,000 for only 0.01% of shares the next day. Suddenly, my company is worth $100m and now I owe the government tens of millions of dollars.

Do you not see how dumb that is? Value can be anything. I can create a $1 trillion company right now out of thin air. All I have to do is give myself 0.000000000001% of shares for $1.