Congress moves to eliminate capital-gains tax on home sales for wealthy sellers

What it does

This bill eliminates the $250,000/$500,000 cap on how much profit homeowners can exclude from federal income tax when they sell their primary residence. Currently, single filers can exclude up to $250,000 in gains and married couples filing jointly can exclude up to $500,000; any profit above that is taxed as capital gains. The bill removes those dollar limits entirely, allowing homeowners of any income level to exclude all gains from the sale of a principal residence from federal taxation.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is a targeted tax exclusion that removes a cap on a specific class of income (home-sale gains). It is functionally a tax cut for property owners, particularly those with high-value homes whose gains exceed the current $250k/$500k threshold.

What the text implies

• The bill creates a permanent, unlimited tax-free treatment of home-sale gains with no income-based phase-out, meaning billionaires selling properties pay zero federal tax on arbitrarily large gains.
• Revenue loss is not quantified in the bill but could be substantial if applied to high-value real-estate transactions in major markets; the cost is borne by other taxpayers or requires offsetting cuts elsewhere.
• The change applies retroactively to 'sales and exchanges after the date of enactment,' meaning it takes effect immediately upon passage with no transition period.
• Current law ties the exclusion to ownership and use tests (2 of last 5 years); the bill does not alter those tests, so the exclusion remains available to frequent home-flippers who meet the use requirement.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

While all homeowners benefit from the removal of caps, the primary beneficiaries are high-income and wealthy sellers whose gains exceed current limits—a narrow slice of the population. The bill forgoes federal revenue that would otherwise fund public services, shifting the tax burden to wage-earners and other taxpayers. For the median homeowner whose gains fall well below current caps, the benefit is zero; for those selling multi-million-dollar properties, the tax savings are substantial.

Who stands to gain

• high-income homeowners and real-estate investors
• wealthy individuals selling high-value properties
• real-estate development and investment firms

Named in the bill

Internal Revenue Code Section 121, U.S. Department of the Treasury, House Committee on Ways and Means

Where it stands

7 cosponsors: 6 Republicans, 1 Democrats.

• Jul 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Jul 10, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $14,580,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 63 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.

• National Association of Realtors — $14,580,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.