Please answer the given financial question based on the context.
Context: 3 . discontinued operations during the second quarter of 2012 , the board of directors authorized the sale of our homecare business , which had previously been reported as part of the merchant gases operating segment . this business has been accounted for as a discontinued operation . in the third quarter of 2012 , we sold the majority of our homecare business to the linde group for sale proceeds of 20ac590 million ( $ 777 ) and recognized a gain of $ 207.4 ( $ 150.3 after-tax , or $ .70 per share ) . the sale proceeds included 20ac110 million ( $ 144 ) that was contingent on the outcome of certain retender arrangements . these proceeds were reflected in payables and accrued liabilities on our consolidated balance sheet as of 30 september 2013 . based on the outcome of the retenders , we were contractually required to return proceeds to the linde group . in the fourth quarter of 2014 , we made a payment to settle this liability and recognized a gain of $ 1.5 . during the third quarter of 2012 , an impairment charge of $ 33.5 ( $ 29.5 after-tax , or $ .14 per share ) was recorded to write down the remaining business , which was primarily in the united kingdom and ireland , to its estimated net realizable value . in the fourth quarter of 2013 , an additional charge of $ 18.7 ( $ 13.6 after-tax , or $ .06 per share ) was recorded to update our estimate of the net realizable value . in the first quarter of 2014 , we sold the remaining portion of the homecare business for a36.1 million ( $ 9.8 ) and recorded a gain on sale of $ 2.4 . we entered into an operations guarantee related to the obligations under certain homecare contracts assigned in connection with the transaction . refer to note 16 , commitments and contingencies , for additional information . the results of discontinued operations are summarized below: .
||2014|2013|2012|
|sales|$ 8.5|$ 52.3|$ 258.0|
|income before taxes|$ .7|$ 3.8|$ 68.1|
|income tax provision|2014|.2|20.8|
|income from operations of discontinued operations|.7|3.6|47.3|
|gain ( loss ) on sale of business and impairment/write-down net of tax|3.9|-13.6 ( 13.6 )|120.8|
|income ( loss ) from discontinued operations net of tax|$ 4.6|$ -10.0 ( 10.0 )|$ 168.1|
the assets and liabilities classified as discontinued operations for the homecare business at 30 september 2013 consisted of $ 2.5 in trade receivables , net , and $ 2.4 in payables and accrued liabilities . as of 30 september 2014 , no assets or liabilities were classified as discontinued operations. .
Question: what was the decrease observed in the sales during 2013 and 2014?
Answer:
-0.83748