In idiom meta for this scenario, most Lemmy users are what would be considered ‘the choir’

JavaScript developers hate this one weird trick!

Fair question, honestly I think it’s ‘hacky’ and there are cleaner approaches. Regulating unrealized gains stands to cause a headache and costs for those navigating an already very complicated tax system.

To work the implementation would require everyone’s assets to be monitored and reported - extra work for tax software, brokers and taxpayers. Plus the development costs to comply with these regulations will be passed onto taxpayers and investors. Yes additional taxes would be recovered but are a drop in the bucket on the scale of the US economy.

To a lesser extent it also discourages regular folk from financial planning since it creates a public perception of “why should I own stock if it’s all going to be taxed anyway?” further concentrating influence on institutional and super wealthy investors.

While I’m still undecided on it, the solution others have proposed of regulating borrowing against collateral seems fairer as it puts the onus on the borrower to carry the admin overhead - regular investors remain unaffected.

Now my hot take - I think this is all a distraction from the real problem with the tax system Step up in Basis. If it wasn’t for step up in basis the gains would at least be taxed on the investor’s death anyway, but right now those who inherit stock get to permanently avoid the taxes on the gains that occurred during the original owner’s lifetime (up to a certain limit). I suspect the politicians responsible for passing such legislation would be too directly affected to address that one.

I chose the number because it is attainable to the median household with 2 years of saving 20% of their after tax income, but also substantial enough to feel the burden of risk associated with investing. Stocks are not guaranteed income, they are not money for nothing, and changing the playing field affects a lot of regular people just trying their best to build a reasonable amount of wealth, whether to buy a house or secure their financial stability.

I am not close to being a top 10% wealtholder, nor am I related to anyone who is, and I certainly was not expecting to have my investment question compared to complicity in mass racial segregation.

Serious question - who here is in favor of taxing unrealized gains and has more than $20k in personal investments? (Outside of retirement/401k or other tax advantaged accounts)

puts on fake moustache “Hello I am new to the area and would like to procure one internet please.”

wow super problematic

They hate each other because they are intolerant to one another’s index choices

Dangit Bobby!

“I’m suing you!”

“What for?”

“It’s a surprise 🎉🥳🎊”

Latter article is mostly AI generated images

A freak cosmic particle caused the user ID of the commenter to duplicate

Seymour! The house is on fire!

That gives me an idea - managers can ask staff to learn the CLI and give them gift cards for what it would have cost to license the Docker Desktop client 🧠

You mean RedHat?

I’d just like to interject for a moment.

What you’re referring to as ‘penguin’ is in fact Sphenisciformes Spheniscidae, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, the Southern Hemispherical aquatic flightless bird.

Meta don’t scrape user data…they already have it stored neatly in databases with supporting APIs

Wait…y’all were paying for Docker?

Closing the stable door after the horse has made a 12 hour flight, settled in a new country married with children, recently gained citizenship and is a well respected member of the local school board.