If you thought Congress’s raid on retirement plans last year under the Secure Act was unfair, Mr. Biden proposes to eliminate the capital gains reset to fair market value at death. For long-term holdings, much of that gain is merely inflation, created by the government’s failure to maintain price stability, so this is effectively a tax on a tax. The remaining gains are usually from corporate earnings, which were already taxed once, when they came in the door. It will be difficult to keep your business or farm in the family if the Biden scheme forces it to be liquidated to pay the death taxes. If the gains are forwarded to the next generation, they may need decades of accounting records to establish a cost basis.

If a President Biden has his way, the top capital-gains tax rate will be 39.6%—the same as for ordinary income. This could be a triple whammy: cutting the estate tax exemption in half, eliminating the capital gains reset to fair market value, and then doubling the capital-gains tax rate. A small step for the government, a giant loss for the American family. If the Democrats win in November, attorneys across the country will rack up the billable hours as their wealthy clients review their estate plans between Election Day and year’s end.

It would be one thing if Mr. Biden were campaigning on a return to fiscal probity, a sound dollar, balancing the budget, and slashing the national debt, but he isn’t. The former vice president’s ambitious spending programs would more than offset any new revenue from his tax proposals. The nonpartisan Tax Foundation concludes the Biden tax plan would reduce the size of the economy by 1.51% over the long run and lead to 585,000 fewer full-time equivalent jobs while lowering after-tax income for all income quintiles. This isn’t a debate between growing the pie vs. redistributing the pie; it is about everyone settling for a smaller pie.