Posted on 01/29/2017 3:39:17 PM PST by ChessExpert
Time for a big price increase on lifestyle liberalism.
If you have spent much time in the more rarefied corners of California, one thing will be obvious: The lifestyle associated with urban progressivism can be very comfortable — if you can afford it. If you can’t — well, the view from Santa Monica is very different from the view from Friant, just as the view from Tribeca is very different from the view from Elmira in upstate New York.
Progressivism in the United States used to be a school of political action, but today it is mainly a highly refined lifestyle — one that Republicans may be on the verge of making a little more expensive.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
KW is right on eliminating the home mortgage interest deduction and the deductibility of state and local taxes. For the record, I live in DC and would be hit hard by both changes. But both are good policy. I’ve been arguing that for years but never had much support. I’d be surprised to see it get off the ground now, but who knows.
Probably right from a fairness standpoint, but it would be politically idiotic and I don’t see Trump as an idiot. Ryan and McConnell however . . .
ultimately this is all about trying to use tax policy as a tool to influence individual decisions. How about we just ban the whole idea of using taxation regimes to influence public behavior? I would happily give up the mortgage interest deduction and the myriad other little deductions in exchange for a complete repudiation of income tax and property tax, nether of which are particularly moral. If government is so wonderful for the economy let it be funded by some form of equally applicable transaction tax, and let social good instead be supported by charitable donations advocated by reasonable persuasion, not force of arms.
what fairness .
because someone can’t afford a home so nobody can have one ?
ridiculous .
tax credits keep real estate flowing and improving neighborhoods.
no money flowing is stagnation .
I second your ideas.
No the “fairness” has to do with the fact that places like San Francisco get a much bigger piece of the total pie relative to their size than places like Tulsa, because media house in SF is over $1 million, median house in Tulsa barely over $100K.
Nobody is talking about eliminating interest deductions without reducing tax rates. I would prefer having a much lower overall tax rate in the neighborhood of 15-20% without a single deduction. It would make a much healthier environment that I would consider investing in again.
Revitalizing neighborhoods has little to do about deductions and everything about recognizing value. I never bought a house by carefully considering the tax deduction and determining the quarter on the dollar spent that I was going to get back was going to make or break the deal.
Dollar for dollar tax credits would have been a different story, but we are not talking tax credits.
This sounds more like a liberal tax the so called elite wet dream than a conservative one.
The communities in California where the elite are moving into. The new buyers don’t need mortgages. They have cash.
Sometimes, they come from high price home areas in La Raza, S. California or New York.
Or they are coming from China, Canada, the Uk and recently the Euro Trash countries. Some are from Houston,Texas.
Regardless, if they are coming from La Raza S. California, or the Bay Area or Europe. They are paying cash for the homes in the high demand coastal or vineyard growing areas.
This bs of taxing the rich or removing the tax write off of a mortgage is not only liberal. It will hurt the working and retired people who still need a mortgage and tax write off to stay in their home they have had for decades.
People have NO CLUE how much DEMOCRATS benefit from these ‘tax loopholes’ (as Rush once called them). The people in the Blue States, with their huge housing prices will KICK AND SCREAM about these types of policy changes, and their elected Democrats will have no choice but to join them.
It will be VERY JUICY to watch the Democrats explain why such wealthy people need to keep their loopholes, which are not even (or barely even) accessible to the Working Class.
This is a GREAT WAY for Trump to cement his support of the Working Class and I’m sure he won’t miss this opportunity!
hello ,SF vs Tulsa . everything is way off.
the cost of overall daily living in SF is distorted too for everything like gas, food, schooling , local taxes, healthcare and most of that is either taxed or itemized too .
comparing tax returns is useless for the two areas not just housing .
The problem with eliminating the home mortgage interest deduction, as is so often the case, is the transition from a highly distorted market back to an economic market. I don't pretend to know the best way to phase in such a change. What we would want to avoid is a sudden upsetting of the applecart, where people's long-established expectations have suddenly vanished.
You were discussing the mortgage deduction. One idea that has been recommended in the past is a long and gradual phase in (or phase out) of market distorting ideas. Long as in ten years. I think that sufficiently protects those who would be adversely affected.
The problem, IMO, comes from the political sphere. Ten years is plenty of time to reverse policy. This is important in a politicized environment.
I don’t think all these exemptions are the same. The Federal exemption for state income taxes has the least merit in my eyes. It incentivizes high state taxes. It rewards states like California. I think it tends to be an indirect subsidy to blue states from red states.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.