I believe these “unrealized” profits or income streams used to be call imputed income. That is, it’s not the Govt’s fault you don’t rent out tour vacation cabin or deer cabin all the other weeks you don’t use it yourself and THRT TAX UIU ON WHAT THET ESTIMATE YOU MIGHT HAVE MADE IF YOU WEREN’T SO LAZY OR SELFISH AS TO KEEP IT FOR YOURSELF. I can’t imagine this being American and flying from SCOTUS but who knows?
It was actually more insidious than that.
Several decades ago, Democrats floated the idea of an imputed income tax for homeowners. They wanted the homeowner to pay an imputed tax on the income the owner would have received if they rented the home to themselves.
In other words, all homes would be treated as rental properties, all owners would be landlords, and all families living in their own homes would actually be renting to themselves, thereby creating a rental income that could be taxed.
-PJ