General Discussion

rgbecker

(4,890 posts)

17. The mortgage interest tax deduction has always been about the rich.

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Sun Dec 18, 2016, 05:47 PM

Dec 2016

It benefits those who can afford to buy a house, those banks that lend the money, the brokers that stick their fingers in the deal. House ownership has been around 60-70 percent for years and you can be sure it is not those in the lower incomes that are benefiting from the mortgage tax deduction. In fact many 2nd home owners are taking this deduction if they are not using the houses as rental, in which case the mortgage interest would be deducted on their Schedule E form.

This deduction does not benefit low income tenants either for the same reason. Landlords can and do deduct their mortgage interest expenses as business expense rather than on the Schedule A (Itemized deductions). The sooner this deduction is eliminated, the sooner the mortgage and real estate market will find a new equilibrium which reflects the lack of government intervention and the sooner these currently subsidized businesses start competing evenly with other enterprises.

I saying this as a guy who has worked construction for 30 years. The business does not need to subsidize the wealthy to thrive.

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There's a big fight brewing over the mortgage-interest tax deduction [View all] Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Dec 2016 OP

It won't reduce their deduction, right? It'll just give a bigger deduction to others.... bettyellen Dec 2016 #1

Actually...this would help lower income folks. roamer65 Dec 2016 #2

The white folks that voted for Trump don't want to help poor black folks. They want an advantage TeamPooka Dec 2016 #5

At first blush, I'm not sure this is bad policy. tritsofme Dec 2016 #3

If it's a wash, they wouldn't bother. HassleCat Dec 2016 #4

I'm so jaded right now I can't help but side-eye any repub driven ideas Nwgirl503 Dec 2016 #6

As you should Cosmocat Dec 2016 #13

That's not what the description says onenote Dec 2016 #8

Never trust the come-on. HassleCat Dec 2016 #26

It's the one deduction Skidmore Dec 2016 #7

We have the charitable contributions deduction onenote Dec 2016 #9

You have that many charitable contributions? jmowreader Dec 2016 #23

They have plans for eliminating that, too. n/t pnwmom Dec 2016 #31

they can't double the standard deduction Mosby Dec 2016 #10

This - bait and switch Cosmocat Dec 2016 #14

Doubling the standard deduction? PoindexterOglethorpe Dec 2016 #11

I am on a single mom group HoneyBadger Dec 2016 #16

I'm feeling a bit puzzled, because if the standard deduction is doubled, PoindexterOglethorpe Dec 2016 #18

From Forbes, obviously there are plenty of variables HoneyBadger Dec 2016 #20

You're not that old jmowreader Dec 2016 #24

IMO the standard deduction should be increased to the figure treestar Dec 2016 #12

Do people forget 2000? Cosmocat Dec 2016 #15

The mortgage interest tax deduction has always been about the rich. rgbecker Dec 2016 #17

Not all homeowners are rich. PoindexterOglethorpe Dec 2016 #19

For sure. But the deduction is benefiting the rich more than anyone. rgbecker Dec 2016 #21

That's true, that it benefits the rich more, PoindexterOglethorpe Dec 2016 #22

The red flag in the description is "*existing* mortgages" muriel_volestrangler Dec 2016 #25

First sentence is misleading, "the mortgage-interest deduction would be moot for most Americans " still_one Dec 2016 #27

I didn't read the article. Kang Colby Dec 2016 #28

God damn right Cosmocat Dec 2016 #29

Looking at the replies to this thread, and just about everyone is missing the point. Xolodno Dec 2016 #30