The Biden administration is rolling out its $6 trillion spending package, and buried inside it is a poisonous assumption: that the capital gains tax will have been raised – retroactively — to more than 43 percent for the “rich.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, it amounts to a tax trap preventing some asset holders from cashing out before the taxes go up. But not all Democrats are on board with the hike:

Congress must still approve any rate changes and retroactive effective dates, and there is already wariness about the full capital-gains tax plan building among some congressional Democrats.

Some, such as Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.), have said they want to maintain a lower tax rate for capital gains than for ordinary income. And lawmakers from farm states, including Sen. Jon Tester (D., Mont.) and Rep. Cindy Axne (D., Iowa) have objected to the changes on capital gains at death.

There’s also the Biden administration’s proposal to make death subject to income taxes:

The rate increase and the changes to the treatment of gains at death are tied together.

Currently, people who die with unrealized gains don’t pay any income taxes. Their heirs pay only when they sell assets and only on any gains since the prior owner’s death. That gives people an incentive to hold on to appreciated assets and, without the proposed change to the tax rules at death, the higher tax rate would prompt more people to hold assets until death.

The administration’s goal is clear: they just want the money. And if it means distorting markets, individual behavior, and choice, so be it. Those “free” community college tuitions aren’t going to pay for themselves, you know.