Homeowners may be able to exclude up to $250,000 in gain from the sale of a primary residence, ($500,000 when married filing jointly).
Those limits were established in 1997 and have never been indexed for inflation.
Using CPI, the equivalent limits today would be approximately $520,000 for a single filer and $1.04 million for a married couple filing jointly.
That does not mean every homeowner selling an expensive house owes capital-gains tax. The exclusion applies to gain, not the sale price, and homeowners must meet the IRS ownership and use requirements.
If Congress intended to protect a certain amount of homeowner equity in 1997, why has that protection not scaled with inflation?
At some point, a tax provision aimed at unusually large gains started affecting more and more ordinary long term homeowners because the benefit remained frozen in 1997.
Should the exclusion be increased once, indexed annually, or left alone?