Capital gains tax has been a controversial issue in the United States for several decades. As a result, most people have never heard about it. But it is a tax that has been levied on real estate transactions for the last two hundred years. In the United States, capital gains taxes are levied on all types of capital assets, including real estate. In fact, the tax has been levied on real estate transactions since at least 1795. It is a complicated tax system that can be confusing to some people, but it is a tax that is fair and easy to understand.