Eliminating the deductions for state and local taxes would help kill the blue states even faster.... For that matter, since Blue states tend to have higher real-estate prices than red states, capping the home mortgage deduction would disproportionately affect them, too.
I don’t like the idea of a stealth tax increase, but I can see the method to the madness.
It would "kill" them by encouraging their populations to migrate to the red states, where they would try to "blue-ify" them.
A more general observation: The home mortgage interest deduction is poor economics, as it artificially inflates home prices; but once you've had it for a couple of generations, you can't take it away without the consequences noted in the article. People have made decisions with a major part of their life's savings based on that deduction--if you take it away, you are destroying those savings. Moreover, it would be nice if the government would make up its mind--if it wants to minimize the banking/GNMA/FNMA/FHA disaster, it shouldn't do things which will place further downward pressure on real estate values!
“Eliminating the deductions for state and local taxes would help kill the blue states even faster.”
Thanks, I live in a blue state, as do hundreds of millions of other conservatives.
This is a DREADFUL idea and I spent 2 days calling Toomey, et al. to say so.
I spoke with a real twerp at the RNC who ended up telling me that if I myself were not willing to pay higher taxes the military would be decimated and the draft reinstated.
I also called the Club for Growth who told me this would only apply to second homes, which appears to be, shall we say, inaccurate.
Anybody who thinks this is a good idea is detached from reality. Were this to happen we all know how it will play in the long run. Deductions go away, rates go down, rates creep back up, deductions are never restored.
Even if this was some double-dog-dare on Toomey’s part it is still an incredibly stupid idea. They’ve slapped the Tea Party in the face and stabbed us in the back at the same time.
This plus Mitt at the top of the ticket spells DOOM for the Republicans next year.
Do these morons think the sought-after independents want to pay more taxes?
I’ve honestly never been this angry with the Republicans before.
Please makes some calls and let them know what you think. Hewitt is the only one blowing the whistle on this it seems.