Subject: Re: Biden's billionaire tax rate fact checked
The easiest way to capture the revenue would be to eliminate the “stepped-up” basis for inheritance.

I think an even better way is to eliminate the favorable tax treatment of appreciated shares in charitable contributions.

I suspect that's where most of the really big accumulations of appreciated assets escape ever being taxed. Warren Buffet and Bill Gates and the like aren't giving their massive wealth to their heirs. They're giving them to foundations and charities and whatnot.

Someone upthread used the example of buying a boat and sticking it in the driveway as when money is really "earned," as opposed to being theoretical. It's an illustration of when someone's appreciated wealth actually gets used to benefit the individual, rather than just being numbers on a brokerage statement. That's an example of how an ordinary person converts intangible wealth into something that they want to enjoy - a thing or an experience in the real world.

But that's the sort of thing that "normies" (like anyone on this thread) spends their money on. If you're a billionaire, you won't (and can't) spend any significant portion of your wealth on things like that. What you'll be "spending" your money on are things like prestige, social standing, power, influence, connections, etc. "Things" that you can "buy" with charitable contributions, especially if you dump a big part of your wealth into a foundation that you control. You don't necessarily want to buy another boat - but you do want every mayor, U.S. Rep, governor, or Senator to return your phone call. You want your name on buildings and event programs and talked about positively in the press. You want people to change policy to match your preferences. You want to use your massive wealth to do things, not buy things - so you get to "spend" your massive fortune without it ever being taxed because donated shares don't get taxed on their appreciated value.