Of course there is an answer....income is what the IRS says it is. Salaries, wages, interest income, dividends, capital gains, gambling or lottery winnings, prizes and awards, fees from jury duty, fair market value of bartering, rental income, etc. etc.
Your question is almost entirely hypothetical. In the case of $10 million in non-income-generating assets, on which any taxes that resulted from appreciated assets have already been paid , then as long as the assets do not generate income, the individual receives absolutely no income when those assets are "cashed in". If such a person receives $15,000 in social security income, that would be their only income.
In the real world, it is difficult to conceive of such a situation. I suppose if you instructed a bank to hold funds in a non-interest bearing account and allowed them to keep any income generated rather than credit it to your account, they might conceivably agree to do that. Failing such a situation, such assets nearly always would generate some kind of income. |
