FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—A Texas congressman has introduced a bill to eliminate all capital gains taxes on primary residence home sales, if the homeowner has lived at the property for at least two years.
Rep. Craig Goldman, R-Texas, introduced the Don’t Tax the American Dream Act, aiming to incentivize older homeowners to sell their homes and downsize; increase the housing supply across the nation; and repeal costly taxes on American homeowners.
Goldman got the idea for the bill from a constituent, he told The Daily Signal.
“He and his wife sold their house, and were questioning me why they had to pay such incredible, costly capital gains on that home sell,” Goldman said.
“And I said, I don’t know, but I’ll find out. But when I saw the ridiculousness that we all pay capital gains on home sales, this is the reason why we filed the bill.”
Currently, homeowners can be exempted from capital gains taxes on up to $250,000 of their gain for single tax filers, and up to $500,000 for married couples filing jointly.
However, Goldman’s bill would remove the caps entirely and allow for home sales without any capital gains tax bills.
As a means of boosting the housing market, President Donald Trump also floated eliminating capital gains taxes on home sales In July.
“If the Fed would lower the [interest] rates, we wouldn’t even have to do that,” he said. “But we are thinking about no tax on capital gains on houses.”
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned in December of a “structural housing shortage,” adding that many homeowners who secured low mortgage interest rates during the pandemic would be reluctant to take on new mortgages with significantly higher rates.
Goldman called his policy “common sense.”
“This bill makes common sense,” he said. “And I don’t know anyone in America who would say it doesn’t make common sense.”
The Texas Republican hopes the bill will encourage more young people to start families by making home ownership more easily attainable.
“Even a young family who’s out there who, let’s say, they bought their starter home and want to sell it and move on to something else, and they look at the affordability, or they look at whether or not in paying the capital gains off a home sale, and they can make that upgrade, they’re more than likely not going to do it,” he said.
“Because it’s the first time they’ve potentially ever made an increase in their wealth and see a capital gains.”
“It’s just ridiculous that we have this in the United States of America,” Goldman said. “It doesn’t promote anything other than government greed.”
