The CNBC host on Thursday disparagingly criticized an economic adviser to the Harris campaign for trying to defend her new tax proposal.
Bharat Ramamurti, who also worked in the Biden administration, appeared on “Squawk Box” with hosts Joe Curnen and Becky Quick to explain the proposal to tax investors' unrealized gains.
“It's not income. If you're taxing unrealized gains, it's not income tax.”
“I think it's a common-sense policy that addresses the problem we have right now, which is that people who, over their lifetime, get the majority of their income from large investment portfolios pay a much lower effective tax rate than people who go to school every day and teach, drive a bus or work on a factory floor,” Ramamurthy said. “I think that's unfair, and I think most Americans would agree with that.”
He also argued that no one making less than $400,000 a year would face any new taxes, meaning 100 million Americans would get tax cuts.
Quick argued that the tax would discourage investment. Later exchange His argument had the CNBC hosts laughing.
“I don't think taxing unrealized gains is fair in any way,” Quick said. “Taxing unrealized gains is just bringing forward the tax that would be paid if you actually sold the stock.”
“I think this reaction to unrealized gains is a little odd, given that the vast majority of people watching this show right now are already paying tax on unrealized gains, what we call property tax,” he said.
“Property taxes,” Karnen muttered. “It's exhausting. It's not always the same. It's always the answer.”
“Property taxes are use taxes. What you pay for schools is use taxes. And home values don't move like stock prices,” Quick countered.
“We pay for schools, we pay for emergency services. These are things that make perfect sense.”
Ramamurti tried to argue that the existence of a wealth tax was similar to a proposed unrealized gains tax, which further infuriated Kernen.
“It's probably unconstitutional. Nobody was ever going to tax it and probably never will be,” Curnen added.
“That's not income,” Quick said, supporting Kernen's position. “If you're taxing unrealized gains, that's not an income tax.”
Ramamurthy said the unrealised capital gains tax would be less than 0.5 per cent, meaning it would only apply to around 60,000 people.
The unrealized tax proposal is just one of many tax programs proposed by the Harris-Waltz campaign.
Part of a segment Posted on CNBC's YouTube channel.
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