Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by redmorphium 1197 days ago
You do pay tax on that.

However, you don't have to if you die and pass the property down to your spouse and/or children. This is the step-up in basis and is key to building generational wealth in the US.

1 comments

> This is the step-up in basis and is key to building generational wealth in the US.

Yes, but for most people, that's not really a benefit. It's possible to exclude the first few hundred thousand of capital gains taxes on a primary residence anyway. So even without the step-up basis, the tax burden on these properties would be tiny.

Property taxes are a much more significant form of taxation than capital gains. And would be even without any preferential treatment.

capital gains ought to be taxed like regular income. it's insane that we cut breaks for wealth generation that requires no effort, and is scalable