Yes, it would be like here in Australia, where I paid higher rate tax on non-public shares allocated to me. I didn't even have the luxury of waiting until they vest! I think if you leave a company before vesting you have to try and get that tax money back from the ATO.

In fact, you could, in theory, bankrupt someone by giving them enough shares.

I think they may have changed this for small enough companies, but still, it's a bad thing aimed at taxing middle classes not the rich. The rich don't earn shares as part of payroll, I imagine.