Capital gains taxes are only taken when the gains are realized. For someone like Bezos that rarely occurs for more than a nominal amount of wealth, so SamBams c

Capital gains taxes are only taken when the gains are realized. For someone like Bezos that rarely occurs for more than a nominal amount of wealth, so SamBams comment is still correct: wealth grows faster than the rate it is taxed at. Your case of an asset that can’t be monetized is somewhat more sympathetic, though that’s more of an edge case where wealth is poorly defined, if your asset has no liquid value (or value that can be received from recurring rents I suppose) it shouldn’t be considered wealth under a tax regime. Either way, a well defined wealth tax would still address the overall issue better. You don’t have to remain the owner of this hypothetical derelict house.