Should unrealized capital gains be taxed?

The unworkable objection ignores how much mark-to-market taxation already exists. Futures traders have their contracts marked to market every year under Section 1256 of the tax code, and nobody calls that the end of commodities markets. The Netherlands taxes an assumed return on savings and investments instead of waiting for a sale, and Americans who renounce citizenship already pay an exit tax on unrealized gains. For households over $100 million, portfolios are mostly publicly traded securities with a price anyone can look up in seconds, so the valuation horror stories about family farms are aimed at the wrong target. We built the plumbing for this decades ago. What is missing is the political will to turn it on for the people who benefit most from it being off.