That's kind of why I mentioned this as a lien rather than immediately owed tax. Another way to do the mental gymnastics might be a interest free loan from the I

That's kind of why I mentioned this as a lien rather than immediately owed tax. Another way to do the mental gymnastics might be a interest free loan from the IRS to pay those taxes owed secured by a portion of the farm. The issue specifically here is that tax that's tied up in unrealized gains can be used twice as leverage, once for the purpose of borrowing, and once for the purpose of avoiding a tax burden. I fully expect that the newish bitcoin borrowing against assets approach* will cause the US Gov / IRS perk up and reduce this "loophole" at least for low net worth indiviuals. *e.g. crypto.com - borrow against your crypto assets rather than selling them to avoid the taxes that come from selling.