Quote:
Originally Posted by Adder
I think it can probably be capped or phased out for higher incomes, and thus made less regressive, without having too much impact on housing prices now.
Granted, that's class warfare and all.
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I'm sorry but that's ridiculous. The last thing we need is to make the tax code more complicated. And doing this will be yet another plum for the rural parts of the country, where housing is cheap and where an income of $100k (or whatever) means something different than in New York, San Francisco, etc. Unless, of course, you index the cap based on region or zip code or.... ugh.
Beyond that, eliminating the mortgage deduction is not regressive. To the contrary, the deduction itself is regressive -- poor and middle income people, particularly people who make enough to pay income tax (hi, Hank!) but too little to buy a home where they live, get roundly fucked on this.
It should be phased out, either by gradually lowering the amount that is deductible or by allowing a deduction of a %% of interest. The idea that was floating around for awhile, of eliminating it and using that plus other fixes to support reduced tax rates overall, is the right idea.
