Repealing the mortgage tax break: AKA busting the housing bubble.......

[Ernesto]

Are billionaire tax breaks more important than all the jobs that will be lost if the repukes pull this one off? Is this a payback for the massive rejection of chimp's social security rip-off?

[louis-t]

1. There will be little incentive to buy homes

once the interest rates start climbing (and they will) if the neocons take this deduction away. Most areas of the country are not appreciating value all that much. There goes one of the few bright spots in the economy.

[Nay]

2. The sooner they can bankrupt us, the quicker they can pick up our

property for 10 cents on the dollar and make us all wage slaves worse than we are already.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. I doubt it will pass Congress. 2006 is very soon.

Fear of angry constituents.

[Tempest]

10. The Repugs won't take it up until after the 2006 election

And by then their majority in both houses will have shrunk to the size where it won't stand a chance.

[newscott]

4. Maybe if they put a ceiling on it

Like maybe 500k or above, no more tax break, that would be fine by me!

[flyingfysh]

8. even that ceiling would hurt Boston

Average selling prices in the town I live in (Somerville) are well above that.

[MissB]

27. I think that is per year, not per mortgage.

[LincolnMcGrath]

28. Now that makes sense.

That would explain why oxyrush was pissed.

Wow

, how high would a mortgage have to be to have an interest payment deducton over a quarter million?

[MissB]

31. Really, really high?

My head hurts too much today to try to do the math.

[LincolnMcGrath]

11. I heard on the radio today they want to lower it from one million

to $250,000.

I heard it on oxyrush, so take it for what it is worth.


How many working folks have a morgage over a quarter million?

[Crowdance]

14. A heck of a lot of people in New York

Especially young people. I bet New York isn't the only metropolitan area that would be seriously impacted by this.

[LincolnMcGrath]

17. Probably many mega-metropolis areas.

I was thinking nationwide percentages.

[notadmblnd]

22. but that is in interest.. correct?

currently homeowners are allowed to deduct the interest they pay yearly when they file their taxes. I'm pretty sure it not based on the value of the home. I pay about 5 grand interest on my 130,000 mortagage (I know I'm being ripped off). A mortage would have to be very very high for someone to pay 250,000.00 interest on a mortagage in one year .

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

18. So did oxyrush think this was a good thing? Just curious...

[LincolnMcGrath]

19. He thought it was horrible idea. He was fuming.

That is why I am a bit confused.

[ender]

12. that would put a virtual ceiling on prices.

and limit appreciation.

the people i bought my house from paid less than 30k, 37 years ago. It went up 10x in price.

If I hold onto my house for that long, I should be able to realize a similar price gain. putting a limit on deductions for mortgages will insititue a ceiling, where appreciation stops, or at least slows down through.

[BrotherBuzz]

25. The median price of a house in California is ....

way over 500K....

[kcass1954]

5. Yes, and yes!

Anyone who thinks otherwise is drinking the kool-aid.

[Bob3]

6. yes billionaire tax breaks are more important than anything

where have you been the last few years? If this breaks housing bubble and causes the Great Depression part two so be it. Listen we are not talking about a bright bunch of guys here - Greedy and insane but bright? No not bright at all. One aspect of intelligence is the ability to anticipate the consequences of an action - not a strong point with this crew "nobody could have anticipated..." is there mantra when things go wrong.

So this is not revenge this is just greed.

[DrZeeLit]

21. I agree. These were the same people who started the bubble, by

waving a red flag in front of the bull.
Lowest interest in decades!
Refinance now!
Bridge loans!
Interest only loans!
Variable interest loans!
Come on, come on! These rates are gonna be history soon! Do it now!
Look! You, too, can live like the rich and famous! Here's a "modest" 5,000 sq ft home!


I constantly wonder how people are paying for these homes. Where do these people work that they are making so much money?

I talked to my d-i-l who is a realtor in Beaver Creek, CO, and asked what the monthly payment on a 3Million$ (one of her lowest prices) home would be. And she said, I am not kidding, that in her 7 years of selling these luxury homes, she's only had 1 loan. Everyone else pays cash. Cash. She's sold (and resold) LOTS of these houses. Cash. Cash.

I am so naive. And now, the middle American is in hock up to his/her eyebrows.
And one MAJOR selling point was: you can offset the payment with what you're going to get back on your taxes.

Ooooh, boy.

[montanacowboy]

7. Ah! The Ownership Society...

kiss that bullshit goodbye

more incentive to rent than own

[flyingfysh]

9. the Ownership Society means...

that the super-rich own everything.

[KayLaw]

13. What does it mean?

What dollar amount would it cost the average tax payer, I wonder? I haven't heard anyone say yet.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

23. If you have a 500Kish house like the median in Calif., it amounts to 6K in

increased taxes in a year. From LA Times:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tax12oct12,0,5995816.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[LincolnMcGrath]

30. correction: 6k more of income would be taxable.

from LaT link: "limit would result in a loss of $6,170 a year in deductions"

:hi:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

32. Ooops need to read closer. Thx

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

15. IF they are actually serious about this (IF), I could only conclude that:

1) Their control over voting apparatus is so complete now that they're just gonna let everything hang out and dare you to show up at the Capitol/WH with pitchforks and torches

2) The opposite: they've concluded they're going down in flames, and have decided to grab as many cookies out of the jar while they're still standing on the table.

In any other "straight politics" scenario I don't see how it makes any sense.

[SoCalDem]

16. All they need to do is cap it.. If people want to buy and can afford

HUGE houses that cost "brazillions", they probably don;t "need' the deduction anyway:)

You can only get back the maximum you paid in anyway, so as long as the "middles" still get most/all of it back, there's no real harm in amending it..

example..

financing $320K for 30 yrs at 6% means your would pay $1600 a month interest.. times 12 months.. you could "deduct" 19200.00 in interest..

Depending on your income and withholding, probably MOST middle class people do NOT have $19200 withheld from their pay, so they would still get all or most of what they had paid in..

http://hfamerica.com/calculators/java_cl.html

[enid602]

20. homeowners

The incredible thing is that all during runup to the '04 elections (and in oh so many instances since when Bush and other repukes are trying to convince us how they work so hard for us), all you heard was how the Bush administration has managed to raise the percentage of family heads who are homeowners.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

24. Well, they're "reelected" now. ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES, as

McCain would say.

[gizmo1979]

26. I read in the USA today

about they want to repeal minumum tax,and to pay for it get rid of the Mort int deduction,and the health insurance deduction.They said the Mort deduction benefits the rich.My ass,that deduction is vital to my tax situation,and I'm not rich!Sounds like another steal from the middle to give to the rich scheme to me.

[Ilsa]

29. We can't even use it anymore.

We bought a smaller house and now we are just as well off taking the standard deduction instead of itemizing. If we had to move to another city, though, this would change. We'd be paying alot more for a home of the same size and have to finance it.