Won't ever come to the middle class imo. Billionaires can easily cover unrealized gains, middle class can't. Simple as that.
Income tax does not affect the majority? Nonsense. It affects 98% of the population if you remove the unemployed. Who earns income that is so low that it won't be taxed at all?
Not true, my country or rather metro area recently passed an income tax on all income above $200k. Those who earn less then that don't pay it which is most people. However, those people who won't be impacted by it still get to vote on it. I don't see it as being much different from a bill where only people whose last name has 7 letters are forced to pay a tax. If everyone voted based on self interest rather than ethics, it would pass.
That's also not true. Recently Elon was forced to sell billions in stock just to cover stock that was granted to him as part of his compensation package. If he had to also cover unrealized gains, will obviously then he'd have to sell about half his total holdings. That would have an impact on the stock. He would become less invested in his own company.
The effective purpose of taxation is to favor some over actions over others. For a long time, capital investment was favored over labor.
And who fucking cares. Are we gonna worship the elites or are we gonna build a society where the top also pays its fair share. Am tired of the constant abuse of loopholes and the mere existence of them all for the exclusive benefit of the elites. Top earners in Europe get taxed to hell and yet their societies are striving. Did you check where almost ALL of the most recent super yachts were built? Not in Miami. Not in Hong Kong. But it high tax domiciles. Pure pieces of art and engineering wonders. And the list goes on. Coincident, the same places in Europe provide the world's best medical services to an entire middle class. Have you checked how long people in North America on average have to wait for a mammography or an MRI? It's ridiculous. Tired of worshipping the elites and their lobbyists.