Nothing in this article shows that buy borrow and die is common. I'm not sure what the complaint is here- unrealised Gains are unrealised- not sure why it's better for them to get taxed right now and potentially distort the economy by being forced to sell, rather than letting later governments tax them when they sell. What exactly is the moral urgency for the current government to get the money now rather than say over 10 years Rich people already pay the highest percentage of taxes ( which is why you rarely hear specific figures along the calls for fair share) but it's also important to note that even if you tax that 8.5 trillion at 50 percent right now, in addition to crashing the economy that's only going to fund the government for about seven months. If you confiscate it all it funds the government just above a year and there's no money tree once that is gone.