I'm not an economist, but I had an argument with your average "eat the rich" reddit moron. Their argument was that something like this would only effect the wealthy, therefore, it was a good idea.

My counter argument was and still is pretty simple. At the time when the law was made that you have to declare a $10,000 withdrawal from your bank, it was a substantial amout of money, and that law has never changed. Therfore, due to inflation, no matter what bar they use to decide who gets taxed on unrealized gains, it will eventually effect everyone.

A tax on 10 million dollars of unrealized gains today may never effect the average person today, but what about in 20 year? 40? The government doesn't have a very good track record when it comes to easing tax burdens after put in place.