Internet rumors never die — especially when they concern Obama’s healthcare plan.
This morning HousingWire Editor Jacob Gaffney received this forwarded email, some of the more inflammatory language is removed:
“PLEASE WAKE UP AMERICA AND TAKE AN ACTIVE PART IN BEING VOCAL WITH YOUR CONGRESSMEN/CONGRESSWOMEN! KEEPING QUIET COULD SEVERELY AFFECT YOU IN THE POCKETBOOK AND PERSONALLY, I CAN’T AFFORD FOR IT TO! CHECK OUT ON SNOPES2 AS IT IS PARTIALLY TRUE!!!!!
The National Association of Realtors is all over this and working to get it repealed, before it takes effect. But, I am very pleased we aren’t the only ones who know about this ploy to steal billions from unsuspecting homeowners.
Did you know that if you sell your house after 2012 you will pay a 3.8% sales tax on it? That’s $3,800 on a $100,000 home, etc. When did this happen? It’s in the health care bill and goes into effect in 2013.
Why 2013? Could it be to come to light AFTER the 2012 elections? So, this is “change you can believe in?” Under the new health care bill all real estate transactions will be subject to a 3.8% sales tax.
If you sell a $400,000 home, there will be a $15,200 tax.
This bill is set to screw the retiring generation who often downsize their homes. Does this make your November and 2012 vote more important?
Oh, you weren’t aware this was in the Obamacare bill? Guess what, you aren’t alone. There are more than a few members of Congress that aren’t aware of it either http://www.gop.gov/blog/10/04/08/obamacare-flatlines-obamacare-taxes-home <http://www.gop.gov/blog/10/04/08/obamacare-flatlines-obamacare-taxes-home>
I hope you forward this to every single person in your address book. VOTERS NEED TO KNOW.”
Regardless of the fact this email admits it is only “partially true,” and despite a pretty heavy campaign by the National Association of Realtors to dispell the rumor, people have been flocking to the “forward” button to send this out to all of their contacts for almost two years.
In a fact checking publication, the NAR said the Internet excitement was sparked as a result of an article published in the Spokane Wash. Spokesman-Review in April of 2010, which reported the healthcare bill to contain a provision for a 4% “sales tax” or “transfer tax” on the sale of a home.
The paper corrected the claim almost immediately, but forwarded email chains don’t benefit from such quick corrections. Instead, they only correct the email to justify the chain as true — even if only “partially.”
Calling the “facts” in the email an “Internet rumor,” Walt Molony of the NAR said the actual legislation may impose a 3.8% tax on “some (but not all) income from interest, dividends, rents (less expenses) and capital gains (less capital losses).”
But, as the email conveniently leaves out, the tax will only fall on individuals with an adjusted gross income above $200,000 and couples filing a joint return with more than $250,000 ajusted gross.
Snopes may have called the email chain “mostly false,” but I call it “completely misleading and incendiary.”
So why the hubbub after almost two years of constant correction? It may be hard to believe (please sense the sarcasm screaming from this sentence) that those who rely on forwarded emails for their information rarely fact check them. It’s difficult to stop an email train when there are no breaks.
jhuseman@housingwire.com
