No one is talking yet about the pending tax cuts that are about to expire and return to their original high rates, in the MIDDLE OF A MAJOR DEPRESSION! Mr. Obama has signaled Capitol Hill that he will not move to extend these Bush-era tax cuts, which include the Inheritance Tax, the upper bracket of personal income tax, long-term capital gains tax and the elimination of the double tax on dividends. The government must make tough decisions to balance the budget, but allowing taxes to increase at all should not be one of them. Needless to say, an increase from 15% to 20% on long-term capital gains can only have a drastically negative impact on the recovery of the real estate market, starting sometime soon as home Sellers realize that escrows closing after December 31st will have a much different tax liability than those closing before.
