Income is income, tax it all the same.

[hfojvt]

66. but that $250,000 exemption from home sales

clearly benefits the rich. Somebody just made $240,000 from the sale of a home and they pay ZERO tax on that windfall? Not only that, but they got their equity back out of it. Yet they are paying NO tax? That's more money than I will make for seven years of working - and paying double taxes on.

Of course, I personally found capital gains from real estate to be strange. For my own example, I bought some land in 1987 for $4,500 (a mere 2 hectares). Then I sold it in 2009 for $22,000 (minus commission and some other expenses). My question is - why shouldn't the 22 years worth of property taxes that I paid, be considered part of the "cost"? Clearly they were a cost - about $2,000 that I would not have had from the sale of stock. In fact, stocks would often PAY dividends every year instead of COSTING taxes every year.

The gross income was NOT the same as the NET income.

But I see NO reason why the NET income from the sale of a home shouldn't be taxed the same as any other income.