Tax Break

This election has been an extraordinarily long and frustrating journey, but the good news is that after 24 months on the campaign trail it will happen today and the hourly polls will be over. From a real estate industry perspective, the result will frankly not matter much because the forces are already marshaled to attack the tax code, and it appears likely that we are headed toward an increase in the capital gains tax, regardless of whether the winner is Obama or Romney is likely to occur. This is a sad time when capital investment is under attack because investment in growth, be it a small business, an office building or capital improvements to an urban apartment building, is what makes our business tick. The foundation of real estate is small businesses with 80% of real estate companies employing 15 or fewer professionals. We can only hope that a divided Congress will produce common sense into the process, but that's probably too much to ask for.

Tony LoPinto is the Global Sector Leader of Korn/Ferry International's Real Estate Practice and founder of SelectLeaders. The views expressed in this article are the author's own.