Proposals to tax unrealized capital gains 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 imposing a tax on unrealized gains for people with more than $100 million.

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

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban said any proposal to tax unrealized capital gains would “kill the stock market.” Interview with CNBC Thursday.

As part of his work Broad tax proposals, President Joe Biden has proposed imposing a tax on unrealized capital gains for people with a net worth of more than $100 million.

While Vice President Kamala Harris has neither endorsed nor rejected Biden’s unrealized capital gains proposal, the proposal has been dead on arrival, Cuban said.

“If you tax unrealized gains, it will kill the stock market, and that will be the ultimate hiring plan for private equity firms because companies will not go public because they would suffer huge losses,” Cuban said.

Cuban’s “swing” comment points to the main question investors are asking about the proposed tax on unrealized capital gains: What happens if those unrealized capital gains eventually turn into unrealized capital losses in a volatile stock market?

But according to Cuban, who said he has been talking to the Harris campaign frequently in recent weeks, it is highly unlikely that Harris would support such a plan.

“They understand that this is the issue,” he said, adding of Harris: “While she’s not directly in conflict with the Biden tax plan, her value proposition is that we need to tax everyone fairly, starting with the Biden plan as a starting point. But that’s not necessarily the end point for her.”

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

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

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

Cuban defended the Democratic presidential nominee despite criticism that Harris has yet to unveil a series of detailed economic policy proposals as the November election approaches.

“Like any good CEO trying to turn a battleship around, there’s a limit to what you can do each day,” Cuban said. “And like any good CEO, you have to do what you want when you succeed at it.”

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