evidence: At issue is the value of capital gains passed on to an heir. Under current law, a person who inherits stock, for example, and later sells it would pay capital gains taxes on the increase in value of the stock compared with its value at the time it was inherited — known as step-up in basis or stepped-up basis — not compared with the value when it was originally purchased. ("This is called a "step-up in basis" because the basis of the decedent’s asset is stepped up to market value," as the Tax Policy Center explains.) [...] Biden would eliminate "the practice of ‘stepping-up’ the basis for gains in excess of $1 million" (or "$2.5 million per couple when combined with existing real estate exemptions"), making sure "the gains are taxed if the property is not donated to charity." [...] The point may now be moot. Biden’s proposal to eliminate the stepped-up basis was nowhere to be found in a package of proposed tax hikes outlined by the House Ways and Means Committee in mid-September. A spokeswoman for the committee confirmed to us that it was not included in the legislation advanced by House Democrats.