While your situation might not require paying capital gains tax on the sale of your home, it's not quite as simple as that. The exemption is limited to a capital gain of $250,000 (or $500,000 if you're heterosexual and married) on the sale of your primary residence, and you must have owned it for a minimum of two years, and occupied it for two of the last five years. You can also claim this deduction at most once every two years.

This was part of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, so it's not exactly news. It also has nothing to do with the Bush administration, although it was a GOP-sponsored bill. You forgot to thank Clinton for signing it, though.

--Dan.