[wtc911]

1. Exempt capital gains on the sale of a primary residence from taxes (this is already in the tax code). 2. Provide a uniform annual tax exemption of $25,000 or so for all homeowners (regardless of the value of their homes) to cover the cost of insurance, maintenance, and local taxes.

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These are your ideas? The first would be diminished in its usefulness since there would be fewer buyers if the mtge tax exemption goes away.

The second is just plain silly...you suggest that the owner of a $60k pre-fab house on a slab in a county with a tax structure that would impose a tax of maybe a grand a year should be gifted with $25k every year by the rest of us? Incredible.

[Alberta's Child]

The first would be diminished in its usefulness since there would be fewer buyers if the mtge tax exemption goes away.

Probably not. I suspect there would be just as many buyers, but the prices of homes would be substantially lower. Since these homes are basically subsidized today, the removal of the subsidy will result in a decline in prices.

The second is just plain silly...you suggest that the owner of a $60k pre-fab house on a slab in a county with a tax structure that would impose a tax of maybe a grand a year should be gifted with $25k every year by the rest of us? Incredible.

No more silly than providing a similar subsidy to an owner of a $500,000 home just because he carries a mortgage on his house, while his next-door neighbor in an identical home paid cash for his.