Gift Of Equity

"Here, nephew. Take 1,000 shares of AMZN. It's my gift in the form of equity to you."

The value of the equity is just assessed based on whatever price the shares were trading the day they were gifted. The cost basis stays the same, however.

If the AMZN stock cost the giver $100 a share and they are gifted at $2,000 a share, then if the person who received that gift ever goes to sell them, they pay a tax based on a $1,900 gain (assuming those shares are still trading at $2,000 a share; if they're trading higher, the basis remains $100 a share).

But gifts are nice, usurous taxes or not.