this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2024
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Did I say mandatory? I meant optional! You're "free" to die in a cardboard box under a freeway as a market capitalist scarecrow warning to the other ants so they keep showing up to make us more!

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[–] Goodie@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I think a law stating you can't borrow against unrealized gains would be sensible.

You can keep your unrealized gains forever, live of your dividends for all i care, and pay no tax. But realizing them, either through selling or borrowing against, triggers a taxation.

[–] SkyNTP@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Mhm. There's two very good reason unrealized gains aren't taxed: volatility and cash flow. Are you and the government expected to swap cash back and forth everyday to correct for changes in the market? No that's silly. Should people go into debt because they don't have the cash to pay the taxes of a baseball card they happen to own that is suddenly worth millions? Also silly.

For that same reason, using unrealized gains as security is dangerous, just like the subprime loans market was!

[–] Prandom_returns@lemm.ee -1 points 1 month ago

There's a precise moment in time you take a loan. Use that moment in time to calculate worth; tax.

[–] yeather@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)
[–] Goodie@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

"Yes*"

*As with all rules, it can vary by country. As I understand it, the US tends to double tax dividends, which is a rabbit hole of why the US market chases valuation so hard

[–] bastion@feddit.nl 1 points 1 month ago

I don't agree with unrealized gains taxes in general, but the instant they are used as collateral, or if value in any way is extracted from them (even loan value), they become realized gains, and should be taxed.

[–] thewebroach@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

So with a 401k loan, which is kind of this, you are limited to borrowing against it by like only up to 50% of its face value due to factors such as market volatility. And then all payments made to that loan are with alreaey taxed income, so you aren't securing money in any way that dodges taxation.

Also using shareholdings is no different from using a house or property as collateral... property equity has unrealized value until it is sold too. One might argue you pay property taxes on that equity, but ideally, the company behind the stocks you own pays property taxes for its ownings annually, so that's still happening. So the real problem is large companies dodging taxes due to exploiting broken tax code loopholes.

[–] EatATaco@lemm.ee 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You can't use a 401k as collateral for a loan.

[–] thewebroach@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] EatATaco@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago

That's not using it as collateral. That's taking money out of it that you have to pay back to yourself. That means you'll lose out on the growth in the markets that the people using their investments as collateral don't lose.

[–] chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think the real solution is not to lend on fake money. Tax or no tax, it wasn't taxes that caused the market crash in 2008.

All money is fake money, though.