Posted on 10/24/2008 2:20:33 PM PDT by freespirited
To add to the mortgage meltdown miseries, the credit panic, the plunging home sales and the rising foreclosures, here's a new worry: a proposed cutoff of mortgage-interest tax deductions for houses with more than 3,000 square feet.
One of Capitol Hill's most experienced and most powerful legislators is drafting a "carbon tax" bill that would do precisely that. The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), expects to introduce comprehensive climate-change legislation when Congress returns next month.
Besides imposing hefty new federal taxes on gasoline, the forthcoming bill would, in Dingell's words, seek to "remove the mortgage interest deduction on McMansions -- homes over 3,000 square feet." Dingell said he recognizes that such a proposal will spark much criticism, but he also said it is essential to reducing carbon emissions by 60 percent to 80 percent by 2050.
"In order to address the issue of climate change, we must address the issue of consumption," Dingell said in talking points prepared for town-hall discussions of the legislation. "We do that by making consumption more expensive."
Houses, like autos, are contributors to greenhouse-gas emissions. This is through heating, cooling, electrical usage and building materials, plus the highways and roads needed to make far-flung subdivisions accessible to buyers. Home builders insist that they have "gone green" in recent years and that houses constructed within the past decade are the tightest, most energy-efficient in history.
Aides to Dingell said that because the legislative language on large houses and other tax proposals is still being drafted, neither they nor the congressman could elaborate on the details of the plan or why the cutoff point of 3,000 square feet was chosen.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Unintended Consequence: some people can afford their existing home because of the tax law as it was when they signed the mortgage. Removing some of their mortgage deduction will not only decrease the amount of money available to make the payments, it will tend to boost the tax family’s tax bracket!
Yet another reason for the Fair Tax.
Wow! Giving total governmental power to the most extremist maggots in our society was a brilliant idea. The brilliance of the people living in this country never ceases to amaze me.
Tch, you’re making the assumption that this is meant to benefit the people. This is strictly the government grabbing more power while hiding behind their endless “for the common good” smokescreens.
I heard the same thing ... that's why I dug this out.
Gee. I guess the upside on this is that I can use the 1040EZ form instead.
Yeah, this would really help homeowners. Also, there’s the more practical matter of how this would even be enforced? I guess they can force lenders to identify if a home meets a certain classification when they send in the interest paid form to the IRS.
Got d@mn who are all the morons out there who want the government sodomizing them like this?
Seriously, something like this would just kill the housing market and any potential recovery, just as all of the bad mortgage paper is being worked through the market.
This election is like one big national IQ test.
China has a solution for this problem.
Many years ago-—I mean like the late 1960’s-—I was traveling in Mexico and asked why it seemed there was always a hole or some other unfinished area of a building.
A local told me that an unfinished building in Mexico was assessed lower taxes.
Now we are importing Mexican tax laws into the USA!!!!
Who woulda thunk!!!!
Most congressmen have more than one house. One in the district and one in DC (even if its rented, it still poses another carbon footprint). Betcha they stop short of combining square footage to protect themselves.
These LibTard DhimmiRats aren’t going to be satisfied until they foment armed insurrection in the streets. That’s something they would never weather, something they could never actually survive. But, still they continue with their agenda of condemn and control.
It may well be time that the tree of liberty be refreshed...
I hate to use the f-word, but the only phrase that comes to mind is “f**king idiot.”
Why do I swear more when listening to liberals?
How about we eliminate your seat, and save the planet?
Is that the one that only has two lines:
1. How much income did you have this year? _____
2. Send it in. _______
No. They are simply acting the way communists do. The question is whether the majority of Americans have lost their minds.
Schizoid...I admit most of the McMansions are awful and running a lot of nice neighborhoods but Congress should but out.
The mortgage interest tax deduction currently is limited to interest paid on the first $1 million in acquisition debt.
To limit it still further by square footage is a Dem public relations ploy, and targets bigger families.
“Gotta keep that damn middle-class under control! Can’t let ‘em get all uppity and what-not.” /sarc
The Breck Girl will have to move!
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