This is a dumb idea. The problem is billionaires taking loans on those assets. Tax those loans. That's the income that they are trying to target. The same money printers and defenders of zero rates which created this massive equity distortion are blaming those who benefit most so that they can create a tax law that forces people to sell their property. Like the AMT, it will grow to affect more people with time. It will be only a few years before all of this is avoided by the creation of options. I am all for increasing taxes on the wealthy. But this is a dumb way to do it, that can only be sold because people think it will never affect them (see title of article). This will be extended, and it will affect more people in time. Tax the income ultra-wealthy are creating via loans, and stop pumping the stock market at all costs.