Sunday, May 16, 2021 | 2 a.m.
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The most poisonous and deceptive provision of the Democrats’ tax proposal is the elimination of the step-up in basis of assets passed to heirs upon the owner’s death. This will allow the government to collect massive amounts of revenue on so-called capital gains. But it’s not just real gains the Democrats hope to tax.
My wife and I bought a small home in 1977 for $40,000. At that time, a nice Class A motorhome could have been purchased for about the same amount. Recently, we learned that this home was sold for roughly $200,000. Democrats insist that the $160,000 “profit” represents a capital gain and would thus be subject to taxation under their proposal. But that gain is an illusion. If it was real, then the $200,000 should be enough to now buy five motorhomes. Alas, at current prices, it still buys only one.
Democrats’ proposal doesn’t just tax real capital gains, it taxes generations of inflation that the government has had a major role in both creating and then disguising. Their proposal centers its crosshairs not on “the rich,” who clearly have the means to get around it, but on the middle class dream of helping the next generation step up to a better life.
I voted for President Joe Biden, but this proposal is a betrayal to all of us who bought into his promise to look out for the poor and middle class.
