Passive Income Tax

[Eesctom]

My broker sent me some information yesterday that I thought I would pass on. Beginning in 2013, there will be a 3.8% tax levied on passive income as part of the healthcare bill. This tax will be charged on dividends, stock gains, etc. If you have a principal residence the tax will only be imposed above the exemption amount (i.e 250,000.00 gain if single and $500,000.00 if married) but it will apply to the gains realized on any other real property which is not your principal residence. There is some gray area with respect to income derived from rental property since current tax law generally treats such income as active rather than passive.

There will be much more discussion about this as 2013 draws near but I figured I'd post this up here since it was really the first I'd heard of it.