Signs of the Times - and a question

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by whell

No you haven't. If you buy $1000 in property, you must also pay tax on it. You then pay tax on it every year that you hold it. You then pay tax again at sale time on any gain. You're lucky if you break even.

How about buying, renovating and flipping houses as your job (which is (or was) pretty common)? Buy something for $200K, put $50K into it and sell it for $350K six months later. Minus the realtor fees, taxes, etc., you still would have a very tidy profit. How does this differ from other forms of income?