Tax expenditure budgets maintained by the Treasury Department and the Joint Committee on Taxation do not include billions of dollars in deferred capital gains taxes that meet those bodies’ official definition of a tax expenditure. The ramifications of those omissions could be relevant to tax policy discussions about taxing unrealized capital gains, changing the rules for like-kind exchanges of real estate, or changing the partnership rules.
RSM Washington National Tax members Don Susswein, Tony Coughlan, and Kyle Brown joined Tax Notes’ “In the Pages” to discuss the op-ed they authored on the subject in Tax Notes’ Aug. 7, 2023, issue. Central issues include the legitimacy of tax deferral as a savings incentive, as well as consistency in taxing income, especially in the context of various proposed taxes on unrealized capital gains and individuals’ net worth.
Watch the discussion below:
