Obama health care reform imposes 3.8% tax on all income from home sales and home rental income (update 2)
The news about Obama's health care reform just keeps getting worse -- and we only find these things long after the bill has passed, of course. The newest revelation concerns a 3.8% tax on income from home sales and home rentals which will go into effect in 2013. (Note: This story has been updated to clarify who the 3.8% tax impacts, see below.)
Depending on your income level, this could end up costing you thousands of dollars from the sale of a home (even if you're a middle-class income earner). It would also place a tax burden on all rental income from any home you might rent out to others.
How could this be? Because the new health care bill imposes a 3.8% tax on "unearned income" above a certain threshold (see below), which includes income from any source that you aren't directly working for. This includes interest you receive on a savings account, dividends from stocks, rental income from a property you own, social security income, unemployment checks, child support and of course income from home sales.
While this tax is supposed to be targeted to "the rich" with a threshold of $250,000 in unearned income, it can very easily hit middle-class income families who sell a house with a gain, forcing them to pay the 3.8% on a portion of their gain.
There is a lot of debate on the 'net about who this affects and exactly how this is calculated. That's actually part of the problem: Sorting out what the law actually says is a bit of an accounting nightmare. As Nancy Pelosi said, "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it..."
As an article on Spokesman.com explains: "Middle-income people must pay the full tax even if they are 'rich' for only one day -- the day they sell their house and buy a new one."
Link:
http://www.naturalnews.com/029849_health_care_reform_taxes.html
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