Ryan Wampler had never made much money selling his own homes.<\/p>\n
Starting in 1999, however, he began to do very well. Three times in eight years, Wampler \u201d\u201d himself a home builder and developer \u201d\u201d sold his home in the Phoenix area, always for a nice profit. With prices in Phoenix soaring, he made almost $700,000 on the three sales.<\/p>\n
And thanks to a tax break proposed by President Bill Clinton and approved by Congress in 1997, he did not have to pay tax on most of that profit. It was a break that had not been available to generations of Americans before him. The benefits also did not apply to other investments, be they stocks, bonds or stakes in a small business. Those gains were all taxed at rates of up to 20 percent.<\/p>\n
The different tax treatments gave people a new incentive to plow ever more money into real estate, and they did so.<\/p>\n