Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has all but confirmed her support for a tax on unrealized profits after her economic adviser, Bharat Ramamurti, publicly defended the policy in an interview on Wednesday.

“I think the reaction to the tax on unrealized gains is interesting, because I believe that most people already pay taxes on those gains. That is the estate tax,” Ramamurti commented.

Vice President of the United States
Kamala Harris

Why Harris Would Support an Unrealized Profits Tax

In a conversation with CNBC, Ramamurti emphasized that the 25% tax on unrealized gains — proposed in Joe Biden's budget plan and reintroduced by Harris — only targets Americans with assets over $100 million, which is equivalent to less than 0.5% of the US population, or about 60,000 people.

“Given the current tax system, which is deeply flawed, I think this makes a lot of sense,” said Ramamurti, who served as deputy director of the National Economic Council under President Biden.

He also explained that the proposal comes with a number of provisions and exemptions: business owners, for example, would not have to pay the tax immediately but could defer it over several years. The tax would apply when the owner dies.

CNBC hosts didn’t entirely agree with Ramamurti’s comparison to a “property tax.” Rebecca Quick noted that property taxes are used to provide public services in the taxpayer’s local community. Furthermore, real estate values ​​don’t fluctuate as much as other assets, while stocks are much more volatile.

Could it be unconstitutional?

Pro-Bitcoin host Joe Kernen said the tax “may be unconstitutional.”

“Nobody intended to impose this tax in the first place, and it probably never will,” he said.

The Bitcoin community is also not very happy with this tax proposal.

“A massive capital flight and subsequent collapse of the U.S. market would be catastrophic,” prominent macro analyst James Lavish warned on Wednesday. “The end result would be much lower tax revenues than they are now.”

Blockstream CEO Adam Back also stressed that anyone who still supports the Democratic Party “needs to intervene” before this policy leads to “market destruction” and “communism.”

Ramamurti is also known for his strong anti-crypto stance, having played a key role in the government’s crackdown on the industry, known as “Operation Chokepoint 2.0.”

As an informal adviser to Harris, Ramamurti has crypto industry observers concerned that her administration will be less friendly to the industry than Biden's.


Source: https://tapchibitcoin.io/harris-ung-ho-thue-loi-nhuan-chua-thuc-hien-cho-tai-san-tren-100-trieu-do.html