Trump Considers Capital Gains Tax Cuts for Home Sellers

President Donald Trump is considering proposals to cut capital gains taxes, including indexing gains to inflation and significantly increasing the tax exemption for home sales, as part of a policy push ahead of the November midterm elections. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and former NEC chief Larry Kudlow discussed the potential measures in interviews on Fox Business on August 12, 2026.

Hassett confirmed the administration is exploring new policy pledges to present to voters, stating that Trump wants to highlight what Republicans would pursue if they retain or expand their political power. Kudlow, who served as Trump's top economic adviser during his first term, said he had recently discussed the ideas directly with the president. "I spoke to him, he liked the idea of the indexing, he liked the idea of a bigger exemption," Kudlow said, adding that the president is "very interested."

The first proposal involves indexing capital gains to inflation, which would adjust the purchase price of assets for inflation before calculating taxable gains. This change would mean investors are taxed only on real gains rather than on increases that simply reflect the dollar...