[ex-snook]

“When you convert your house asset into, say, a CD, your taxes go up because you pay income tax on the interest but didn’t on the house.”

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True, but you paid property tax on the house, right?

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True but the property is still taxed, the rent includes the tax, and the landlord gets the deduction. bummer.

[irishjuggler]

True but the property is still taxed, the rent includes the tax, and the landlord gets the deduction. bummer.

It's not exactly to say that "the rent includes the tax." A lot of new landlords around here (San Francisco Bay Area) are finding that their monthly cost of ownership (mortgage payment + property tax + insurance) far exceeds what they're able to collect in monthly rent (sometimes by a factor of two or three). Market conditions may prevent a landlord from passing ALL of this costs (including property tax) along to the tenants.