ROBINHOOD Act of 2026

Key Points

• This bill targets ultra-wealthy individuals who borrow money against their assets instead of selling them, which lets them avoid paying taxes on gains. When an applicable taxpayer takes out a loan, the bill would treat a matching amount of their long-term capital assets as if they were sold, triggering a tax bill on the gains.
• The new rules apply only to individuals who earn more than $100 million a year or hold more than $1 billion in assets, measured over three consecutive years. Married individuals filing separately face thresholds at half those amounts.
• The bill also closes workarounds. Long-term leases over 5 years are treated the same as loans, and loans routed through partnerships or other pass-through entities are attributed to the individual owners on a pro rata basis.
• Existing loans are not grandfathered out. Any loans already outstanding when the law takes effect would be treated as a single new loan issued on January 1, 2027, so billionaires cannot keep using old debt to avoid the new rules.
• Gains triggered by this rule cannot be offset by capital losses in the same year, preventing taxpayers from engineering losses to cancel out the new tax. The changes would take effect for tax years beginning after December 31, 2026.