The Coalition for Affordability and Prosperity is urging the Senate Finance Committee to advance legislation raising the capital gains tax exclusion for home sales, saying a nearly three-decade-old tax threshold is discouraging longtime homeowners from selling as affordability remains a major concern ahead of the November midterm elections.
In a September 1 letter provided exclusively to Breitbart News, Coalition for Affordability and Prosperity Executive Director Chuck Flint called on Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) to schedule a markup of S.3332, the More Homes on the Market Act, and move the legislation to the Senate floor. The letter was copied to Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR).
“I write on behalf of the Coalition for Affordability and Prosperity to urge the Committee to schedule a markup of S.3332, the More Homes on the Market Act, and move it to the Senate floor,” Flint wrote. He described the legislation as “a bipartisan fix to a tax problem Congress created and only Congress can solve.”
The group says interest rates are only part of the reason the housing market is frozen. Flint pointed to a capital gains tax provision Congress wrote in 1997 that allows individuals to exclude up to $250,000 in gains from the sale of a home and married couples to exclude up to $500,000.
“The statute has not been updated in 29 years,” Flint wrote, noting that Congress adjusts the standard deduction and retirement contribution limits for inflation annually but has not done the same for the home-sale exclusion.
Flint cited the increase in home prices since 2000, writing that the median price of an existing U.S. home has risen from roughly $139,000 in 2000 to more than $417,000 at present — an increase of more than 200 percent — while the exclusion has remained unchanged.
“The result is a stealth tax increase on homeowners, and a growing incentive for longtime sellers, including retirees on fixed incomes, to stay put rather than list their homes and face an unfair tax bill,” the letter states.
Flint wrote that this was not Congress’s intent when the bill was codified.
S.3332 would raise the exclusion to $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for married couples and index both thresholds to inflation going forward. Flint wrote that the proposal amounts to Congress “returning a 1997 policy to its intended value” and called it “a matter of basic fairness.”
The letter also emphasized the measure’s bipartisan support. Flint wrote that the Senate legislation, introduced by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), has 22 cosponsors, including Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Steve Daines (R-MT), Adam Schiff (D-CA), John Barrasso (R-WY), and Mark Kelly (D-AZ).
Its House companion, H.R. 1340, has attracted 154 bipartisan cosponsors, according to the letter.
“The level of support for this policy change reveals that the underlying problem, and the fix, are not in serious dispute,” Flint wrote.
The letter also emphasized the committee’s ability to act on the issue.
“Congress cannot lower mortgage rates by vote. It can fix the tax code, and this Committee has jurisdiction to do exactly that,” Flint wrote. “Every month this bill sits without a markup is a month sellers stay locked in place. Inventory stays off the market.”
“We respectfully ask the Committee to schedule a markup of S.3332 and report it favorably to the full Senate as soon as possible,” Flint concluded before thanking Crapo for his consideration.
Flint has also referenced recent housing-market data in making his case. In his Washington Examiner op-ed, he wrote that Redfin figures showed home sales and new listings had fallen to their lowest level in nearly two years, with sales down 4.1 percent in July and pending transactions down 2.5 percent.
He also explicitly connected the proposal to Republicans’ position heading into the midterm elections. Flint referenced Silver Bulletin’s generic ballot average showing Democrats ahead by 6.7 points and noted that Democrats need a net gain of four Senate seats to take control of a chamber currently divided 53-47 in Republicans’ favor, with Vice President JD Vance serving as the tiebreaker.
“Affordability is the top issue, and it’s no secret,” Flint wrote, citing Pew polling showing 47 percent of respondents wanted candidates talking about the economy, compared with 19 percent who selected health care.
Flint also addressed the effect of inflation on homeowners during an interview with OAN political correspondent John Hines.
Hines suggested that much of the increase in home values reflects inflation and asked whether the proposal would prevent homeowners from paying taxes on those inflationary gains.
“John, that’s exactly it,” Flint responded. “Let them keep their money. The government shouldn’t get a windfall.”
Later, when Hines raised reconciliation as a possible route for advancing the measure, Flint said, “I think there are multiple avenues by which they could pass it.”
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