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Let's say you pay $100K to buy the house. Years later you sell it for $250K. You pay taxes on the capital gains, the additional $150K in increased value. It's the same concept for stocks and crypto.

Oh I get it now, so the tax is on the profit not the whole amount. I guess that makes sense in a way, in other ways, the government is just looking for any means to collect our money. Sigh!