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Comment by lostdog | Hacker News Reader

As long as we limit the payable tax to the sale price of the home, then you're not screwed. It would suck to have all the money disappear, but if you didn't pay your mortgage then you would also owe the entire amount of the sale price too.

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I’m never a fan of any form of capital gains tax. When I earn money I’m liable for tax, but what if I lose money? I’d be responsible for the whole amount loss.

You can claim capital losses a tax deduction up to $3000 per year and it carries over to subsequent years. So this isn’t entirely true.

Does that imply an effective limit of $150k or so? I've definitely had capital gains tax higher than that.

I believe that it's 3000 per year to offset other income (i.e. labor income). You can use capital losses to offset other capital gains without limit.

And either way it's only not taxing you for money you didn't get. They never share your pain in the same sense that they share your success.

You cannot claim capital loss on a house sale.

Rich people have assets which sit there and appreciate, and when they sell them they usually get more cash out that they put in. I strongly believe that those capital gains should be taxed.

Yes: if you invest in something the value can go down, but I don't think the government should compensate you for that. You should just be careful where you invest your money.

> but if you didn't pay your mortgage then you would also owe the entire amount of the sale price too.

This isn't always true. It doesn't happen very often, but if you are not underwater after a foreclosure, the bank owes the owner the difference.

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