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points by d1sxeyes 3 days ago | 0 comments
While I agree, there's something that feels unfair about double taxation.

Here's an idea:

- Capital gains become taxable when you borrow against an asset, proportionate to the amount borrowed. - The gains which have already been taxed are added to the asset's cost basis, so they're not taxed again on sale (basically same as sell and rebuy).

If the shares subsequently tank, you can carry forward the loss against future gains on the same asset, but can't claim a refund or offset unrelated gains (to avoid incentives to transfer value to a different company and dodge liability, etc.)

For example:

2000: I buy $1M of S&P 500 ETFs.

2026: They're worth $8.5M ($7.5M gain). I borrow $2M against them, effectively realising ~24% of the gains (~$1.75M), and pay CGT on that amount. My cost basis increases to $2.75M.

2030: I sell up for $10M. Instead of paying CGT on $9M of gains, I pay it on ~$7.25M, since the rest was already taxed.

[–] camgunz 3 days ago
It seems easier to just tax the loan as income unless it's a margin investment.
[–] otoburb 1 day ago
That would destroy the housing market in terms of an inability for many potential homeowners to finance a property purchase. Although this would probably be welcome news for younger and/or less-resourced potential owners since property prices would be decimated and would therefore become much more affordable.

Perhaps for the initial purchase this type of income-based approach on debt financing could be waived as an exemption, and could apply to financial products like home-equity line of credit (HELOC) loans.

[–] camgunz 1 day ago
I guess I view a mortgage as a margin investment