See Your Home’s Value Is Based on Racism by Dorothy A. Brown. She is a professor of law at Emory University. Excerpt:
"Between 1940 and 1950 a majority of white Americans became homeowners by riding a wave of anti-Black policies — public and private — that prevented Black families from buying in certain neighborhoods and from taking advantage of F.H.A.-insured loans. By the end of the 1950s, 98 percent of homes built with F.H.A. support after World War II were occupied by white Americans. Black taxpayer dollars were supporting a federal government that was denying them equal treatment.
At the same time that America was solidifying its status as a nation of white homeowners, the post-World War II defense industry was mobilizing and in need of workers. To enable those workers to sell their homes with tax-free gains and move to where the jobs were, the real estate lobby went to work. By 1951, a new tax provision allowed homeowners to avoid paying taxes on gains when they sold their homes, if they purchased a new home of equal or higher value.
Today, if you sell your home at a gain, you can receive up to $500,000 of gain tax-free. If, however, you sell your home at a loss, you get no tax break. (Contrast that with the way the tax law allows losses to be deductible when you sell stock.) John’s $144,000 loss did him no good in terms of taxes. However, if he and his wife sell their Candler Park home, they’ll receive a significant tax-free gain.
So even though it is now illegal to discriminate against Black home buyers, tax subsidies that reward homeowners who sell their homes at a gain and punish those who sell their homes at a loss still disproportionately benefit white homeowners and their preferences — helping far too few Black homeowners along the way. White homeowners win while Black homeowners — particularly those who want Black neighbors — lose."
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