evidence: As a candidate, President Joe Biden proposed getting rid of the "step-up" in basis. This is a provision that erases capital gains upon the death of the owner. Here’s how it works: [...] This relief from capital gains taxes originally made sense as a trade off with the estate tax when the threshold for the federal estate tax was $600,000. The policy was to protect heirs from being double-taxed on the same inheritance, being subject to both the estate tax and the tax on capital gains. But now the federal estate tax threshold is set at $11.7 million, so almost no estates pay any estate tax. There is no longer a need for the step-up in basis to avoid double-taxation. [...] Given this seemingly unfair benefit to real estate investors, it seems quite reasonable that President Biden and other progressives are proposing getting rid of the step-up. So, why do I disagree? Here are three reasons: