Word: interests
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...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 part of their income tax bill...
...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 the government forgives part of your tax liability, it has exactly the same effect as sending you a welfare check...
...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 own more expensive homes...
Last year, 23 percent of the value of mortgage interest deductions went to the two percent of taxpayers with incomes greater than $100,000. A 1981 study by the Congressional Budget Office shows three-fourths of the benefits go to the richest fifth of taxpayers...