Subject: Re: Biden's billionaire tax rate fact checked
My total paper gain is $20 x 4,000 shares = $80,000.

Should I have to pay tax on that?

Maybe! After all, you've earned an extra $80K that you didn't have before! You're richer than you were before. If you earned that amount of money in almost any other way, you'd have to pay tax on it.

As with all "should" questions, it's complicated - because there are logistical and legal issues that make any system requiring tax on such earnings difficult, if not impossible. But you've earned $80K in income on your investments this year, and we generally expect that people won't get a pass on paying taxes on what they earn just because they earn it in a particular way.