Capital gains are part of your taxable income — so when you sell an appreciated asset, such as your home or stocks, that can kick your income above $200K and the 3.8 ADDITIONAL tax kicks in.
And you know how taxes go — initially only those making over $1,000,000, back when that was real money, paid 1% income tax and look at income taxes today.
That extra 3.8% on capital gains is here to stay and will be applied to everyone — I think the US already has one of the highest capital gains taxes in the world.
Compare to Russia where there is NO capital gains tax and there is something like a 12% flat tax on income.
True, but only the portion of any gains over some threshold, $500K for married couples I think, gets included in that income. Not that ANY new tax is ever a good thing, but I don’t want people running around thinking it’s going to be common to pay 3.8% on all gains, or on the sale price.