Hypothetically, a crazy person offers you $1 million for 1/1,000th of the equity in your house.
You still get to live there. They just own a tiny piece and hope it goes up in value.
You take the deal.
Congratulations, your house now has an implied valuation of $1 billion.
you’re a “billionaire”
Do you have a billion dollars? No.
If the government wanted to tax you on your unrealized gain is there a money dollars to take? No.
Reason #1,000,000,000,000 why we should tax the rich.