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I don't know why everyone is focusing on Bezos. He's not even the CEO any more. Not for the last 3 years. 

Politicians focus on them.  Biden promises to "make them pay" (which is entirely inaccurate of course).  They are an easy target so they are a target politically with nice sounding words that mean squat.

But the overall concept is so apparently appealing ....

Of course, his tax proposal is on INCOME, not wealth.  But it makes for a nice soundbite.

A ton of folks think billionaires must have a lot of taxable income the government can grab, like Bezos or Elon or whoever else gets in the news and is super wealthy.

It's how things are.  

I prefer the terms free markets vs central planning. 

My issue with these terms regardless of whether you use free markets/central planning, capitalism/socialism, or some other variant is that it creates a false dichotomy. 

In reality there really aren't any "pure" free market economies in the world because government always is involved to some degree. Similarly, there aren't any pure centrally planned economies either because people will cut corners and barter if it benefits them.

Old Soviet Economy Joke:
A comrade in the USSR got approved to buy a car so he went down to the Trabant factory to submit his order. The Trabant factory official told him to fill out his order, put it in the pile, and come back in 20 years to pick up his car. The guy said: "In the morning or in the afternoon?"

The Trabant factory official said: "What difference does it make, it is 20 years from now?".

The guy said: "The plummer is scheduled to come that morning so I'd like to pick up the car in the afternoon."

Does the government give the money back the next year when you have an unrealized loss?

If it was treated like Capital Gains/Losses are now you'd get a capped deduction that you could carry forward (or backward) for a set period of time.

Exapmle (ignoring @847badgerfan 's $10M floor):
You have $150k in unrealized capital gain in 2023 that you have to pay tax on.

You have a $250k unrealized capital loss in 2024. You can:

• Carry $175k back to 2023 and file an amended 2023 return with $25k in unrealized LOSS instead of $150k in unrealized gain, then
• Take a $25k deduction in 2024. You have now used up $200k of your $250k loss and you continue to carry it forward to either offset gains or take a $25k/year deduction. 

I mean, I understand the mechanics of it.

I just don't agree that you can treat an unrealized gain the same as a realized gain.

I understand the energy behind the effort, trying to find some way to get the "rich" to pay "their share."  

But there are lot of reasons why past attempts like this, simply haven't worked out.

I'm pretty sure the average middle class person would tell you that the economy is not doing well. The middle class for the most part don't care what is happening on the stock exchanges.  They may have some funds in the stock market through a company retirement plan or such but they don't really plan on using those funds anytime soon.  What the middle class strongly feels is how interest rates and the cost of everything has gone up the last three years. Add to that all the woke, equity, and climate spending BS that does nothing for the middle class and the Biden administration bailing college kids out of their student loans...well, your gonna get a very pissed off middle class.  

And that doesn't even touch on all the other crap those running the nation have been up to such as the open border or non-enforcement of laws.