> Worse yet, by exercising options you owe tax immediately on money that you never made. Your options have a strike price and private companies generally have a

> Worse yet, by exercising options you owe tax immediately on money that you never made. Your options have a strike price and private companies generally have a 409A valuation to determine their fair market value. You owe tax on the difference between those two numbers multiplied by the number of options exercised, even if the illiquidity of the shares means that you never made a cent, and have no conceivable way of doing so for the forseeable future. Is this a rule that should be changed? Why can't these just be capital gains taxes owed when you sell?