Re: Tax case at SCOTUS. If the IRS wins wouldn't that mean that any IRA, 401K, gain in any stock, bond, or other investment (real estate) not sold but simply a paper gain be subject to taxation?
No, this is an unusual situation. It sounds like it's 2 conflicting principles, realization and repatriation on undistributed foreign gains. It sounds more like the IRS will argue the investors were essentially agreeing to dividend reinvestments up front, so they should pay the tax.
But not to worry, many states are talking about taxing unrealized gains. It will come somewhere one day, but if we still have some semblance of a financial system by then, an unrealized gains tax will finish it off.
Florida residents may remember their state used to have something akin to this back 20 years ago or thereabouts. You had to pay a tiny .1% or some such tax on the value of your cash and investments. I think Jeb Bush got rid of it because it was a nuisance tax that was easily avoidable.