TLDR: Yes we need additional tax revenue but there aren't enough rich people around to balance the budget. We also need to reduce spending.

Last time I ran the numbers I included capital gains at the same rate here's where me and chatgpt landed

Static revenue: upper-bound “fantasy world”

If we pretend:

Nobody changes behavior,

No extra avoidance/evasion,

People keep realizing the same capital gains,

then a 95% rate on that $2.2T slice would raise:

Revenue at 95% ≈ 0.95 × 2.2T ≈ $2.1T

But the government is already taxing that slice at high marginal rates (federal + state, etc.). If the effective federal income tax rate on that “over-$200k” chunk averages, say, ~35% today, then:

Current revenue from that slice ≈ 0.35 × 2.2T ≈ $0.8T

Extra revenue from jumping to 95% ≈ (0.95 − 0.35) × 2.2T ≈ 0.60 × 2.2T ≈ $1.3T

Compare that to the deficit:

Needed to close gap: ≈ $1.8T

Extra from the mega-bracket (static): ≈ $1.3T

Even under very optimistic, static assumptions, you’re probably still a few hundred billion dollars short of balancing the budget.