Posted on 03/28/2014 7:03:46 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
All the mortgage tax deduction does is help inflate the price of homes.
Not going to happen. Only retiring politicians would vote for something like that.
There’s no such thing as “fair” taxes. The two words should never be in the same paragraph, let alone in the same sentence or next to each other.
but I bought it as an “invuhst muhnt”...............
sheesh, like you get a tax break for having a huge unpaid debt
people are so stupid
OK, so professionals will just form a corporation, have it buy a house, and rent it to themselves. All mortgage interest, maintenance, etc will be business expenses.
If people had to send a check to Government (State, Local & Federal) every MONTH and actually SAW how ripped off we all are, the White House would be stormed and the Tax Codes would be changed overnight.
Let’s do the same for sales taxes, too, and gasoline taxes and every other hidden ‘fee’ we pay each and every day.
Infuriating! And they now wish to take away the meager CRUMBS they throw to we RESPONSIBLE, hard-working Taxpayers?
Eff that!
If 10% is good enough for God, 1% should be good enough for government.
Does anyone still deduct mortgage interest? I haven’t for years - I use Standard Deductions and thats it.
I wish the article had hard and fast numbers for the total US taxpayers who itemize for mortgage interest. I bet its not much.
I’ve been in favor of scrapping this deduction since the mid-1980’s. And I was able to take the deduction back then. The problem is that most people vote their wallets (which is one reason we are in the mess we’re in) and are against it because they will lose one of their deductions.
Interestingly, because interest rates are so low and in many parts of the country you can get an amazing home for under $200k. When compared to the standard deduction, it means the mortgage deduction has become a dedection for the upper middle class and above.
But yeah, simplify the dang tax code. This would be another step i the right direction.
You are correct. And the analysis in the article is also correct in saying that it is a welfare program primarily for rich people. Makes no sense. Get rid of it.
“OK, so professionals will just form a corporation, have it buy a house, and rent it to themselves. All mortgage interest, maintenance, etc will be business expenses.”
We plan on doing exactly that when we start farming full time. ;)
1% would never support the Empire.
I just never get over sometimes hearing idiots partly justify their purchase of a home because of the tax deduction, as if it were free money in their pocket.
Heh, heh. That’s the idea.
Perfectly valid, though, when comparing the cost of a mortgage to paying rent.
The real estate lobby is by far bigger than any other self interest group in DC. Dropping the deduction ain’t happening.
How about fairER taxes?
Taxes based on consumption instead of income (which is a measure of your productivity).
Of course, if we want the only “biblical approved” tax, it would be a head tax.
I’m sorry, absent from this math is taxes that actually cover what the federal government spends, not the current taxed amount. So if we add in all the government actually spends in a given year, taxes go up. Strange this concept, paying for the outrageous spending by the government, but hey, that’s how you actually reform the system.
Then again, such an idea would explode the Taxed Enough Already party.
Quick, let’s give away more money! There’s a government worker out there who doesn’t currently have the opportunity to double dip on their pensions.
The mortgage interest deduction isn’t worth much because rates have been so low for so long. But getting rid of it just amounts to an income tax increase.
Flat income tax.
Personal exemptions should be worth, say, $25,000, so the income tax cuts would fall disproportionately on those who don’t make a lot. The other exemptions would be for retirement accounts and medical spending accounts. Health insurance would be made the responsibility of the citizen.
Eliminate most or all federal excise taxes, in particular, the retail fuel tax, replacing that example with a $10 a barrel tax on imports *and* exports of fuel (crude and refined), then eliminate the “carbon” BS and open up drilling. Prohibit state excise tax increase on fuel.
Impose a 2 percent federal sales tax, exempting food, but also defining food (iow, reform food stamps so that they can’t be used for junk food). Prohibit state sales tax increases, or maybe cap them at 5 percent. California for example used to have a different sales tax rate in each suburb, as I recall from my 1984 trip to LA.
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