Supposed 3.8% Tax on Real Estate Sold after 2013

A recent piece of email disinformation received on 11/2/2011 is titled:

Will You Sell Your House After 2012?:

So easy to be ignorant...

Subject: Will You Sell Your House after 2012?

Will You Sell Your House after 2012?  

The National Association of REALTORS is all over this and working to get it repealed, before it takes effect. But, I am very pleased we aren't the only ones who know about this ploy to steal billions from unsuspecting homeowners. How many REALTORS do you think will vote Democratic in 2012?  

Did you know that if you sell your house after 2012 you will pay a 3.8% sales tax on it? That's $3,800 on a $100,000 home, etc. When did this happen? It's in the health care bill and goes into effect in 2013.

Why 2013? Could it be to come to light AFTER the 2012 elections? So, this is "change you can believe in"?

Under the new health care bill all real estate transactions will be subject to a 3.8% Sales Tax.

If you sell a $400,000 home, there will be a $15,200 tax. This bill is set to steal from the retiring generation who often downsize their homes. Does this make your November and 2012 vote more important?

Oh, you weren't aware this was in the Obamacare bill? Guess what, you aren't alone.

There are more than a few members of Congress that aren't aware of it either

http://www.gop.gov/blog/10/04/08/obamacare-flatlines-obamacare-taxes-home

I hope you forward this to every single person in your address book. VOTERS NEED TO KNOW.

"So easy to be ignorant" indeed.  There is a tax, but it effects nobody with gross income under $200,000, or $250,000 for married filing jointly.  It is on investment income, which includes profit on the sale of a house, and a true illustration would be that if a married couple sold their house for $600,000 more than they paid for it (they made a profit of $600,000), they would be taxed 3.8% of $100,000 -- the first $500,000 of profit being exempt.  So if they bought for $1,000,000 and sold for $1,600,000 they would be taxed $3,800.  It is next to impossible for anyone selling a house for $400,000 to be taxed anything under the provision -- let alone to be taxed $15,000.

The email uses for authority a posting on www.gop.gov, the "website of the Republican majority in congress" as its authority.  While that posting is real, and doesn't totally lie, it is written like advertising copy intended to make you believe much more than it actually says when read carefully.