Wow. There is certainly a lot of misinformation going around about this "tax" that's going to hit homeowners in 2012. I hear about it at BBQ's, and birthday parties, get together's, and so I had to do a little research, which took all of about 5 minutes, to find out whats really going on with this.
Misinformation, we get it everyday. I can't tell you why, unless it's political and this blog is non political. You want the truth, so I will find it and post it. Here's the links I used to research this.....
http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/realestate.asp
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/government/a/Health-Care-Real-Estate-Tax.htm
http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/26741.html
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/aug/23/chain-email/health-care-law-sales-tax-home-sales-no/
Please take the time to read these if your a home owner and planning on selling your home. I personally know Realtor's who are passing off bad information on this to scare clients into selling homes so they can make a commission, that's bad business people....and it's a lie. Here's the truth....
First, there is no "sales" tax on home sales in the health care bill. The bill would impose essentially a capital gains taxes on some home sales made by a limited number of taxpayers. (The health care law contains a new 3.8 percent tax on "unearned income" for high-income taxpayers. Unearned income includes capital gains.) To be hit by the 3.8 percent capital gains tax, you first have to be a married couple making more than $250,000 in adjusted gross income or $200,000 if you are single. The capital gain on the home sale must also exceed $500,000 if this is a primary home and you are a married couple ($250,000 for singles). So for example, even if you and your spouse make $300,000 in wages and you bought a home that you lived in for a while for $600,000 that you now sell it for $1 million, your capital gains tax on that home sale would be zero. Even if the home sold for $1.2 million, thereby resulting in a capital gain of $600,000, only $100,000 of that capital gain would subject to the new tax (because of the $500,000 exclusion). Now, if your an investor you will be paying this tax, because you did not live in the house for 2 years and it is nothing more than a money making investment for you. But for over 95% of all the people, this will never affect you in any way.
People, do NOT let bad information lead you to sell your home before it's time, or even keep you form buying one. Very few people will ever be affected by this "tax". By the way, this is a "medicare" tax, just like you pay on your paycheck. The reason being to help level medicare with out raising taxes on the lower and middle class. Which is 95% or more of the people.
I vow to always post the truth as well as I can find it. I will research things like this to help educate people into doing the right things for themselves and so they will not be scared into making a bad or wrong decision regarding their Real Estate investments. Thanks for dropping in, and stay tuned for my next blog. I found some great new products to help you fix up your home or investment property and get outstanding results for less money , time and effort...stay tuned!!
