So far, so good - under the present laws, my inheritors value it ar 380K, sell it and that's it, no capital gains tax. Or sell it for 350K and take a loss.
Under this proposal, as I read it, they sell it for 380 and pay capital gains tax on 300K (paid 80, sold for 380). Sounds fair except....
That 80K I spent in 1977 has a value today of a lot more than 80K. Where's the adjustment for inflation on the intital purchase? 80K in 1977 was a lot of money, a brand new car was 3 or 4 thousand dollars. Heck, a new Cadillac DeVille was under 10K. So that 80K then is like 250K today. Without inflation adjustments it's not a true cost basis.
This will affect thoise who have no knowledge of estate planning.
Well, my 79 yr old father is selling his house by March 2015 to one of my nephews. Then he is kicking in 1/3 the cost of a new big house my sister and her husband are buying (they will be paying cash as soon as their current home sells) and he’s moving in with them. His will shall be re-written to reflect that deduction from her final 25% share of his estate. Guess he will barely beat them at their wealth/estate grabbing venture. My Mother has already passed and while he is still fairly good health, it is a preemptive move on their part . . . I live almost 1K miles away and help when I can and when needed.
Doesn't sound fair at all if the parent's estate exemption exists and is above 380K. Why not? Because it's not an exemption at all.... the inheritors don't pay unless they sell, but if they do, they pay the same tax as if there was no estate exemption.
To your other point, which is I think your main one, yeah, capital gains should be indexed for inflation. Otherwise (estate issues aside) you are taxed for inflation... you pay for the privilege of keeping up in nominal terms. Inflation is a bad enough tax on savings as it is.
This proposal is Soooo Bad... it doesn't even sound good first time around. Many of Obumbler's other ones sound good... at first... like the $2500 you'd save on health insurance, haha.