Word: deductionism
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It say "secret" because the cost is hidden in the tax code. Beneficiaries of the mortgage interest deduction don't receive a government check in the mail. They simply write down on their tax returns the amount of interest they paid on their home mortgage, and thereby avoid a substantial...
It's very neat, very simple and very expensive. The mortgage interest deduction will cost the federal government some $32.2 billion this year, plus another $10.4 billion for home-owner property tax deductions. Although no checks are written, this money constitutes a huge subsidy--pure and simple--to homebuyers. When...
Not all subsidies are bad, of course, especially when they are intended to promote something as important as housing. But just like any other government program, housing subsidies should be efficient, progressive, and fair. Because the mortgage interest deduction is none of these, it ought be abolished.
PROPONENTS bill the mortgage interest deduction as the average citizen's ticket to the American Dream--home ownership. Unfortunately, the average citizen gets only a small portion of the benefits. The mortgage interest deduction is worth far more to the rich, who are in higher tax brackets and tend to...
And most taxpayers don't get anything at all from the deduction. The 66 percent of taxpayers who do not itemize their deductions get nothing. Thirty-eight percent of homeowners with mortgages do not claim the deduction. And tenants, whose incomes average half that of homeowners, are not eligible for...