Unrealized Capital Gains Tax Proposals Would ‘Kill the Stock Market,’ Billionaire Investor Mark Cuban Says

• Mark Cuban said taxing unrealized capital gains would “kill the stock market.”

• President Joe Biden has proposed taxing unrealized earnings for people over $100 million.

• Kamala Harris is unlikely to endorse Biden’s plan, Cuban said.

Any proposal to tax unrealized capital gains would “kill the stock market,” billionaire investor Mark Cuban said in an interview Thursday on CNBC.

As part of his sweeping tax proposals, President Joe Biden has suggested taxing unrealized capital gains for people with a net worth of more than $100 million.

While Vice President Kamala Harris has not supported or rejected Biden’s unrealized capital gains proposal, Cuban said, it is dead on arrival.

“If you tax unrealized gains, you’re going to kill the stock market and it’s going to be the best employment plan for private equity because companies won’t go public because you can get ripped off,” Cuban said.

Cuban’s comment alluded to the main question investors have about the proposed unrealized capital gains taxes: What happens if those unrealized capital gains eventually turn into unrealized capital losses in a stock market volatile?

But according to Cuban, who said he has spoken frequently with the Harris campaign in recent weeks, Harris is highly unlikely to approve such a plan.

“They realize that’s the problem,” he said, adding of Harris: “Even if she doesn’t directly conflict with the Biden tax plan, for her, her value proposition is that we have to tax everybody fairly , starting with the Biden plan as a starting point. But this is not necessarily the end point.

Harris has already rejected some aspects of Biden’s tax proposals, offering her own vision of what she would propose as president.

While Biden proposed moving the long-term capital gains tax rate to 39.6 percent for households with taxable income over $1 million, Harris says that’s too high and instead proposed raising it to 28 percent .

“The point I’m really trying to get across is: She’s open-minded. She’s not an ideologue. She wants to do what’s best for business,” Cuban said.

Cuban defended the Democratic presidential nominee despite criticism that Harris has yet to unveil a detailed set of economic policy proposals with the November election fast approaching.

“Like any good CEO trying to turn around a battleship, there’s only so much you can do every day,” Cuban said. “Like any good CEO, you have to do it when you’ve got it right.”

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