Will The New Health Care Bill Cost Me a 3.8% Tax On The Sale of My House?

Have you seen the scary email yet telling you that the new health care bill includes a 3.8% tax on home sales?

Here’s the email:

Since I am no different then our elected officials, I too had never read the 2,000 page health care bill.  Since the government already almost completely destroyed the housing market once this millennium, it only made sense that they would do something else to finally deliver the knock out punch.

Fortunately, upon doing some research, it turns out that the email is only partially correct.

This comes from Factcheck.org:

The truth is that only a tiny percentage of home sellers will pay the tax. First of all, only those with incomes over $200,000 a year ($250,000 for married couples filing jointly) will be subject to it. And even for those who have such high incomes, the tax still won’t apply to the first $250,000 on profits from the sale of a personal residence — or to the first $500,000 in the case of a married couple selling their home.

So there you have it. I hope that clears up the confusion.  If you want to read more details from Factcheck.org, click here.