Kamala BACKSTABBED By Top Surrogate In Brutal Takedown On CNBC

On Wednesday, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) publicly criticized Vice President Kamala Harris’s key economic proposals during a CNBC interview. Khanna, who has been a prominent figure in progressive politics and a close surrogate for the Democrat Party, delivered a scathing analysis of Harris’s plan to tax unrealized capital gains, calling it misguided and damaging to the startup ecosystem.

Harris, the Democrat presidential nominee, has made increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans a central part of her economic agenda. She argues that higher taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations would help reduce income inequality and provide funding for essential social programs. Part of her plan includes imposing taxes on unrealized capital gains, targeting the wealth accumulated by billionaires and ultra-wealthy Americans that often goes untaxed until assets are sold.

However, Khanna voiced serious concerns about the unintended consequences of such a policy. Appearing on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Khanna shared his reservations about how a blanket tax on unrealized gains could negatively affect entrepreneurs and the broader startup economy.

“Let me tell you why I don’t think a blanket tax on unrealized gains is a good thing,” Khanna said. “Let’s say you’re an entrepreneur who creates a company, and it gets to $100 million or $200 million on paper. Now, if you’re taxing that, you’re probably going to force that person to sell it to private equity.”

Khanna said that such a tax would put undue pressure on entrepreneurs to sell their companies prematurely, often to larger institutions like private equity firms. “Do you really want entrepreneurs to be forced to sell their companies to larger institutions and see them decline in value? I just don’t think that’s what you want for a healthy startup ecosystem,” he added.  “So, you’re going to tax entrepreneurs on something that’s not guaranteed, and it could discourage investment in innovation.”

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The critical remarks come at a delicate time for Harris as she tries to solidify support among progressives and business-friendly Democrats. Khanna’s comments expose a rift within the Democratic Party on how to approach wealth taxation, particularly when it comes to encouraging innovation in Silicon Valley and other startup-heavy regions. Harris threw her support behind Joe Biden’s ambitious tax overhaul included in the fiscal year 2025 budget, endorsing the controversial plan to implement a 25% minimum tax on the ultra-wealthy. The so-called “billionaire minimum tax” targets Americans whose assets exceed $100 million by taxing “unrealized gains”—the increase in value of their assets before they are sold according to CNBC.

Currently, investors who sell a profitable asset that they have owned for more than one year are subject to capital gains taxes at rates of 0%, 15%, or 20%, depending on their income level. Under Biden’s proposal, those affected would need to annually report the original purchase price and the market value as of December 31st for each asset class, along with their total liabilities. However, despite the administration’s push, the plan is struggling to find widespread acceptance among lawmakers. It has notably failed to gain significant congressional support and could encounter formidable administrative hurdles, according to policy experts.

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