If you're talking about your aunt's primary residence, there is a capital gain exclusion of $250,000 (or $500,000 for married couples). Additionally, improvemen

If you're talking about your aunt's primary residence, there is a capital gain exclusion of $250,000 (or $500,000 for married couples). Additionally, improvement costs, all sorts of taxes, fees, etc. can be excluded from capital gains, on top of the base exclusion. Obviously, in a high COL area, the sale price might be greater than the exclusion but it's pretty hard to argue that someone making a greater than 1,000% profit on an asset should not pay capital gain taxes on the gain above 1,000%. See: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p551/ar02.html#d0e301 https://www.irs.gov/publications/p551/ar02.html#d0e301 Your initial point still stands though. Capital gain tax rates are the same for everyone.