[md_]

Backing up a bit, you wrote,

"It's true that a few (and very much declining) number of countries have some form of wealth tax that includes some amount of unrealized gains. The Netherlands, for example, marks-to-market on Jan 1st of the tax year then doesn't actually track gains/losses over the next 364 days. So that obviously isn't a direct tax on gains."

I wrote,

"What? How else would a tax on unrealized gains work if not mark-to-market at a fixed day of the year?"

How do you believe an unrealized gains tax would work if not mark-to-market on a fixed day of the year?

Backing up even further, as I said, this is extreme hair splitting. Major economies do have wealth taxes, which include a tax on unrealized gains via mark-to-market. Is your point just "lol ProPublica r idiots nobody taxes just unrealized gains"?