Recently there’s been a chain of email messages going around about a “tax” on real estate transactions. In fact, real estate agents have often been the ones forwarding this message, which is framed as an “urgent alert” about a 3.8% tax on real estate transactions.
You may be wondering if this is true, and you may even hear from your clients about it. The fact is, the alarmist email is quite a bit off base. You can read the details (and reference them for clients and colleagues) from two sources here:
FactCheck.org
http://www.factcheck.org/2012/04/realtors-the-3-8-sales-tax-and-247-medicare-premiums/
Snopes.com
http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/realestate.asp
(This is also a good reminder: Be wary what you forward on to clients and prospects, especially if the message is politically charged.)
