I feel like I talk more about the 3.8% “sales tax” on real estate (via the Health Care Reform Act or Obamacare as it has become known) more than I do most other things, but that’s because it keeps surfacing in different forms – and always incorrect. While we can argue all day about the idea of whether it’s right or wrong, that is not for this forum. There are plenty of places to argue the pros and cons – our job as real estate agents is to disseminate the truth about real estate topics, so once again, I find myself speaking out about the current emails circulating the internet.
The most recent email goes back to the usual misguided mathematical equations that results in anyone selling a home winds up owing a huge new tax. However, the truth is it doesn’t quite work like that. While there is a tax for some (correctly it is not a sales tax), most people will never pay this tax. The Health Care Reform Act (H.R. 3200) is very clear on how the tax is levied and on who – if you’d like to see the breakdown, I recommend either of these two articles I have written previously (which have been fact checked and confirmed by independent sources as being correct): Healthcare Law and the 3.8% “Sales Tax” or 3.8% “Sales Tax” on real estate via the Health Care Reform Bill? I also highly recommend reading these two posts: The 3.8% real estate tax on home sales. Truth or Fiction? (from PhoenixRealEstateGuy) and New Summary Explains the 3.8% Tax (from National Association of REALTORS®)
As always, our main mission is to provide our clients and those in our community with the best real estate information possible. Please, spread these posts around to your friends, particularly if they have been known to send you the emails with incorrect information. We can only reach more people with your help.
image courtesy of Listener42
