The valuation difficulty was a valid point, and indeed, outside of stock holdings, would have been tough. The proposal outlined that the tax was only going to apply to those with a “net worth of $100M”, so not too many impacted, all things considered. Probably would have seen a safe harbor calc, too

At the end of the day, everything comes down to marketing

I’m a tax accountant, so you’d be right to think that my motivations with respect to the tax code come with bias, but I have always prioritized equity over simplicity in the code. It feels like we missed our last chance for a good, long while to utilize the code to make things more equitable.

The practice of a tax on the appreciation in otherwise unrealized value isn’t new - property taxes exist and impact FAR more people. (Yes, there are differences in both the assets taxed and their taxation.)