Senate adopts Kennedy amendment to preserve like-kind exchanges that benefit Middle America

Published 9:28 am Wednesday, August 11, 2021

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U.S. Sen. John N. Kennedy, R-La., offered an amendment Wednesday to the Senate budget resolution that would prohibit any changes to the treatment of like-kind exchanges in the U.S. tax code. The Senate adopted Kennedy’s amendment.

“President Biden’s tax-and-spending binge would be a direct tax on the middle class, and he wants to make that load heavier by limiting tax deferrals through like-kind exchanges,” Kennedy said. “Like-kind exchanges directly benefit Middle America by creating jobs and affordable housing. Congress should pursue economic policies that multiply opportunity and productivity, and I’m glad the Senate voted for an amendment that will support middle- and working-class Americans.”

Americans have to pay capital gains taxes when they make profits from a property sale. When individuals engage in a like-kind exchange—reinvesting profits from one property sale into a similar property of equal or greater value—they can defer those capital gains taxes.

Like-kind exchanges apply to any real estate used for business, trade or other productive purposes. Deferrals from these sales encourage people to pour resources back into the market.

Text of the amendment is available online at www.kennedy.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/7/e/7e8f3565-aa00-4e58-baa8-505a0ccdbb99/DE805B0C9E71252D2134F50CA10891A6.1222181318.pdf.