OA361: DC Sides with Trump in Emoluments Case?

Thanks for the baseball law discussion. I found the answer to the listener question about the wealth tax problematic. The discussion essentially centered on how to value capital gains, a type of income, which are unrealized, rather than on the taxation of wealth. An unrealized capital gain is when an asset (wealth) increases in nominal value but the asset-holder continues to hold the asset. For example, if one buys a house for one price, then the market heats up and the house could sell for far more, but the homeowner does not sell, there is an unrealized capital gain. If the homeowner sells, there is a realized capital gain, which is the difference between the sale price and the purchase price. Under ordinary income tax rules, that increase in value is taxable income (though with exceptions and limitations). James Linscheid in his comment gets to this issue of measurement, the increase in value of some assets, that is, of some types of wealth, will be enormously difficult to determine. Art work is the perfect example on this difficulty. The gains to other types of wealth will be quite simple to determine, stocks are an example. But even if such measurement were easy, there are severe fairness concerns. For example, should the retired couple living in the home they bought decades ago be required to sell the home to pay the tax on the unrealized capital gain? I doubt most people would find that fair. But the bottom line is that none of this discussion is about the taxation of wealth. The property tax is a wealth tax, on the other hand. The tax one pays is a proportion of the value of the property.

I am so happy when you cover non-trump related law, whether it's baseball or other! It's always a nice reminder that other stuff is going on. I mean, given the time we're living in, I also really appreciate all the deep dives into trump and his witless associated criminals and all the laws and norms they're destroying. But after President Warren's second term, when "right matters" again in America and there are no new criminal activities to monitor specifically from the White House, it'd be great to geek out on other important legal issues. E.g. What ever happened with the Republicans coordinated attacks to gut Roe v Wade across all those states?

bella ciao