Elon Musk’s ‘wealth’ is stocks in Tesla/SpaceX. He has some cash income. Last year, he paid 30% taxes State (California) and Federal. His tax was ~10Billion $. Rest of Elon’s ‘stock wealth’ is imaginary and can only be ‘realized’ by selling. If Tesla stock price crashes, Elon’s ‘stock wealth’ disappears.
‘Unrealized gains’ is dumb. Tesla up 2% ? - > Make Elon pay -> Elon doesn’t have cash ? -> Force to sell stock -> Tesla stock crashes on Elon selling -> Elon’s ‘stock wealth’ disappears -> IRS refunds Elon. Not only will Elon lose money, hedge funds, banks, 401Ks with Tesla stock in their portfolio - innocent people - will lose money too. Great job !
IRS collects tax when you SELL the shares, not ‘imaginary stock wealth’ that could change every hour, rather cold hard cash. This is practical. Musk cannot buy food with Tesla stock, he has to sell it for cash.
Elon Musk’s ‘wealth’ is stocks in Tesla/SpaceX. He has some cash income. Last year, he paid 30% taxes State (California) and Federal. His tax was ~10Billion $. Rest of Elon’s ‘stock wealth’ is imaginary and can only be ‘realized’ by selling. If Tesla stock price crashes, Elon’s ‘stock wealth’ disappears.
‘Unrealized gains’ is dumb. Tesla up 2% ? - > Make Elon pay -> Elon doesn’t have cash ? -> Force to sell stock -> Tesla stock crashes on Elon selling -> Elon’s ‘stock wealth’ disappears -> IRS refunds Elon. Not only will Elon lose money, hedge funds, banks, 401Ks with Tesla stock in their portfolio - innocent people - will lose money too. Great job !
IRS collects tax when you SELL the shares, not ‘imaginary stock wealth’ that could change every hour, rather cold hard cash. This is practical. Musk cannot buy food with Tesla stock, he has to sell it for cash.