In the course of reading a NYT piece on the tax paid by the super-rich, I couldn’t help noticing this:

One of the oddities of the tax code is that capital gains taxes are discretionary, since they must be paid only when gains are realized.

This is an oddity?

That’s about as “odd” as not being liable for income tax until you are, you know, paid.

What is odd, however, is that capital gains are not adjusted for inflation for tax purposes, something that means that the tax payer can end up paying taxes on “gains” that do not in any real sense exist.