The point is exactly what I said in the rest of the comment. He has already paid taxes on the cash he has in hand. The only assets he has not paid taxes on are the shares in AMZN that he has not realized the gains on.

I haven't realized any gains on my house, but I pay taxes on it.

Yes, but your property tax rate is a much lower recurring rate than the capital gains tax rate. In fact, a tax like that on unrealized gains would probably be a much better way to structure things. You pay 1% a year on unrealized gains until they are realized, at which point you can deduct what you've already paid. I guess this would be annoying to calculate, though.

Good news the unrealized gains are in a form very similar to what you outlined.

sure but he’s got so much he has no incentive to touch it, and it gains all the same… if he makes a 5% return this year, take 2%…

You're right about that. My point isn't about his overall wealth, or whether it's socially good that he has it. A few comments up the tree, someone asserted that Bezos wasn't strongly incentivized by the value of his Amzn shares because he had already "cashed out", though. That's what I responding to.