This week, former U.S. Senator John Breaux, a spokesman for Saving America’s Family Enterprises (SAFE), joined KBUL News Radio’s “Montana Talks” for a discussion about protecting Americans from devastating taxes on their unrealized income.
SAFE and Sen. Breaux recently filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to declare taxes on unrealized gains–which have been proposed in Congress and President Biden’s budgets–unconstitutional.
Listen to the interview here.
On the threat of taxes on unrealized gains: “Unworkable…very counterproductive”
“Some members of Congress are at it again and the administration by trying to tax a business or individual on income, even before they get the income, which is hard to imagine and almost unbelievable–but trying to tax people’s income or businesses before they even get it. Number one, it’s unworkable. Number two, I think it’s very counterproductive. And number three, and most importantly, it’s unconstitutional. So our group, the SAFE organization, is going to try and educate the American public, and particularly members of Congress, that they should not pursue this unworkable, unconstitutional idea.”
On closing the tax gap: “Why don’t we just go ahead and collect the taxes that already owed?”
“There’s a tax gap of about $600 billion a year of taxes that are legally owed that are not being paid. And if the administration needs to find additional revenues, well, why don’t we just go ahead and collect the taxes that are already owed, as opposed to going after income before people even get the income?”
On the unworkability of taxes on unrealized gains: “It’s a guess tax”
“Small businesses and individuals and businesses across the board should be very concerned about…In other words, it’s a guess tax. They come in and make you value everything and all of your assets every year, which is impossible to do, and then go say, ‘well, if you sold these assets, you would have a certain amount of income and you’d have to pay taxes on it,’ but that’s an impossible, it’s unworkable.”
