Why are American billionaires able to live tax-free? It’s becuase they dont hold any real cash. Rather, they hold billions of dollars in stock, and the country doesn’t tax unrealized gains.

But what if it did? South Korea is planning to do it. The Netherlands also tried to push it. Some US lawmakers are debating versions of their own. The target of these tax initiatives is wealth like Elon Musk’s.

He became the first trillionaire on June 12, with a fortune built almost entirely on unsold stock. Move him to Seoul, or change US law, and the bill arrives. But the key question is how big would it be?

The Tax Laws Spreading Across The World

The latest flashpoint arrived in Seoul. This week, lawmakers and labor groups proposed folding unrealized gains on stocks and real estate into income tax.

In the Netherlands, the Lower House of the Dutch Parliament passed the Box 3 Actual Return Act on February 12, taxing annual paper gains on stocks, bonds, and crypto at a flat 36%. The law targets a 2028 start and still needs Senate approval.

Backlash was swift. On February 25, the finance minister said the measure could not proceed as written and would require amendments. The FT reported earlier this month that the coalition under Prime Minister Rob Jetten is preparing a round of concessions.

US Lawmakers Target the “Buy, Borrow, Die” Playbook

In the United States, Senator Ron Wyden has introduced the Billionaires Income Tax. The bill, with more than 20 cosponsors, would tax tradable assets, such as stocks, annually at market value. 

“The purpose of this bill is to require billionaires to pay taxes annually by eliminating the ability of high income and high net worth taxpayers to use tax planning strategies such as ‘buy, borrow, die’ to defer paying taxes indefinitely,” the bill reads.

The bill does not set a new tax rate. Instead, it changes when the ultra-wealthy pay. Tradable assets, such as stocks, would be marked to market each year and taxed as long-term capital gains.

This means the existing top rate of up to 23.8% (the 20% long-term capital gains rate plus the 3.8% net investment income tax) applies annually rather than only at sale.

Meanwhile, gains on nontradable assets like real estate and private businesses would be taxed at the normal capital gains rate plus a “deferral recapture” interest charge, with the combined total capped at 49% of the gain. 

Representatives Steve Cohen and Don Beyer introduced an identical House companion, making this the first Congress with a bicameral Billionaires Income Tax.

Notably, the numbers show a coordinated push. In March, Senator Elizabeth Warren reintroduced the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act.

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Warren’s plan sets a 2% annual tax on every dollar of net worth above $50 million. The rate rises to 3% on every dollar of net worth above $1 billion (a 1% surtax on top of the 2% base).

Separately, California voters will decide on a wealth tax this November after the measure qualified for the ballot. The California Billionaire Tax Act would impose a single 5% tax on residents with a net worth exceeding $1 billion.

The Billionaire Tax Now Coalition has since written to Governor Gavin Newsom, indicating it is open to compromise. The group said it would back a lower 2% rate in place of the 5% it first sought.

A $945 Billion Fortune the Tax Code Barely Touches

Meanwhile, Musk’s wealth milestone has put the “Tax The Rich” narrative back in focus. He hit the trillion mark when SpaceX (SPCX) listed on the Nasdaq on June 12. 

A tech selloff then pulled the stock down 24% from its June 16 high. By June 26, Forbes valued him at about $945 billion.

He still leads the ranking by a wide margin, with Larry Page second at nearly $281.6 billion. The bigger story for tax policy is what happens to that fortune each year. 

Even after the slide, SpaceX drives the majority of its fortune. Musk’s base salary at SpaceX remains at $54,080 per year, unchanged since 2019.

However, his stake runs to about 4.76 billion shares. According to Bloomberg, that excludes roughly 1.3 billion unvested restricted shares tied to performance and other conditions, as well as 237,530 shares pledged as collateral for debt. 

He also holds 350,000 exercisable options. At the recent price near $153, the stake is worth about $728.3 billion.

A June 2026 Form 4 filing puts his Tesla stake at roughly 11%. That figure leaves out 424 million restricted shares from his 2025 CEO award, which vest only if performance and other conditions are met. Musk also holds stakes in his startups, Neuralink and The Boring Company.

Tesla has never paid a dividend, so nearly all of its return is paper appreciation. Current US law taxes that only at sale. So a fortune of nearly $945 billion does not yield a comparatively high tax bill.

Past filings show the pattern. ProPublica reported that he paid $455 million on $1.52 billion of income from 2014 through 2018, and no federal income tax in 2018. Measured against his wealth growth, ProPublica put his true tax rate near 3%.

The defining feature is how little of this is cash. His wealth is stock he has not sold, not money in the bank. 

What Musk Would Owe If These Taxes Applied to Him

The answer depends entirely on which kind of tax applies. Wealth taxes hit his total net worth. Unrealized-gain taxes hit only the yearly increase. 

Start with Warren’s wealth tax, applied to his roughly $945 billion. The 2% rate covers the band between $50 million and $1 billion. The 3% rate covers every dollar above $1 billion. Together, they produce about $28.3 billion a year.

Wyden’s bill works differently, taxing the gain rather than the stock of wealth. Assuming a negligible cost basis, roughly his entire fortune could be treated as an unrealized gain. 

Year one is the outlier. With no prior mark, the first assessment captures his entire built-up gain. At 23.8%, that catch-up amounts to about $220 billion, which the bill allows him to pay over five years.

After that, his basis resets, so each year, taxes only that year’s new gain. A $100 billion increase in revenue would cost about $24 billion. A flat year brings almost nothing, and a down year books a loss he can carry back.

California’s measure is a single levy, not an annual one. A 5% tax on his net worth would come to about $47 billion. The 2% compromise floated by backers would still take about $19 billion. 

The figures above are hypothetical. Musk lives in Texas, and none of these proposals is law. They show what each plan would collect if it were to reach its fortune.

What That Money Could Do

The sums are easier to grasp in relation to global needs. The UN World Food Programme estimates that ending world hunger by 2030 would cost about $93 billion a year. Its entire 2026 plan to feed 110 million people costs $13 billion.

Warren’s tax on Musk alone, about $28.3 billion a year, would more than double that annual budget. It would also cover roughly 30% of the yearly cost to end world hunger, from one person.

Wyden’s $220 billion first-year catch-up would fund the global hunger goal for more than two years. California’s $47 billion would cover about half of a single year.

Bring it home, and the gap holds. The National Alliance to End Homelessness put a number on it in 2025. 

It suggested that about $9.6 billion would be enough to provide a Housing First placement to households who used a US shelter in a single year. Warren’s yearly tax on Musk alone would cover the figure with room to spare.

The Bill Could Vanish as Fast as It Appears

The numbers carry a catch, and the past month exposed it. Most of Musk’s wealth is in stock he cannot sell quickly, and its value can swing by hundreds of billions in a single day. The stock is already down 24% from its June 16 high.

That volatility cuts both ways. A tax on paper gains only collects when the paper shows a gain. In a down year, Musk would post unrealized losses instead, owe nothing on them, and could carry them forward to offset gains in other years. The same swing that creates a huge bill in one year can erase it the next.

Liquidity is the other limit. A large annual bill could force him to sell shares to cover it, but his SpaceX lockup currently prevents him from doing so.

Mobility adds a third. California has already lost billionaires before its deadline, and the Dutch plan raised emigration concerns.

For now, the gap holds. It is real enough to rank him first in the world, yet untaxed until the day he chooses to sell.

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Источник: BeInCrypto