Removing the deduction for mortgages is a TAX INCREASE!!!!

[Walt Starr]

Use the Republican methodologies against them, they aren't removing a deduction, THEY ARE RAISING TAXES ON THE MIDDLE CLASS!!!

[MrModerate]

1. Of course! You wouldn't expect the rich . . .

to pay for things, would you?

[havocmom]

2. AND all those who took out equity loans get a double whammy

Soon, housing bubble is buh-bye and the rich can buy up lots of property cheap as the middle class starts moving under bridges in the sun belt.

[mattclearing]

3. Good call.

This is exactly how we need to be thinking as 2006 approaches.

[Walt Starr]

5. Bingo, hopefully some Democrats will pick up on it.

That's how the Republicans always work. They change the language around until it comes out the way they want.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[annabanana]

6. MASSIVE tax increase!

gonna hurt like hell...
Especially piled on top of astronomical energy costs this winter...

(looking around living room to see what would "burn good")

[RevolutionStartsNow]

7. Agreed, it will never fly

because it's an OBVIOUS tax increase, and it affects many, many voters.

I can't wait to see my Repub neighbor, who is mostly all about taxes, and ask him "How do you like your party now that they are trying to raise your taxes?"

[bunkerbuster1]

8. Sure. If a provision for whittling even the TEENSIEST bit of the

mortgage deduction is buried in some bill, then doggone it, who ever voted for that bill voted to INCREASE TAXES!

That is how this stupid game is played; we have to play it too.

[tx_dem41]

9. To be fair, they are not talking about REMOVING it....

they are talking about lowering the cap. Removing it would be total political suicide.

[sweepster]

10. Only affects houses worth 350K or more....

for now. The middle class will be next. Still I'm kinda torn. I hoping this may stop the building of McMansions out there but in some areas 350K don't buy much.

[tx_dem41]

11. I'm torn too on it....

I wouldn't mind seeing the cap lowered to 500K.

Welcome to DU, btw!

[RevolutionStartsNow]

14. Where I live, that's EVERY house

And every townhouse, and every condo, and many mobile homes too.

We're in a nice area, but I'm not rich -- I choose to live here, and choose to have a big mortgage because of it, but it still sucks. There seems to be a lot of other tax increases they could make, on the very wealthy, that wouldn't hurt every single person where I live.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

19. I haven't seen a house in California under $350,000 in over 2 years

and that takes in the supposedly lower priced desert areas. A 60 year old 1,200 square foot house in the L.A. area in virtually any condition is going for at least $500,000, and most are going for a whole lot more.

[RevolutionStartsNow]

21. No doubt Feinstein and Boxer will vote against this

and Senators in other states where the housing rate is inflated, but there are plenty of places in the country where $350,000 sounds like a lot of money for a house.

Wish I lived in one of them right now.

[Terran]

42. Right. If you live in a real estate bubble

this is definitely a tax increase on the middle class. Kind of glad I live in the rural midwest; my $90,000 house would probably cost $250,000 in California, and you know they'll work their way down to that level next year.

[tx_dem41]

27. If you read articles about it...they are talking about indexing the

cap regionally to handle major fluctuations in housing prices. I agree with the OP that it is a tax increase, but at some level lowering the cap a bit is ok with me.

[PurityOfEssence]

16. It doesn't buy much of anything around here

Silver Lake is a pleasant little hilly enclave around a reservoir about 2 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, between there and Hollywood. Mercifully, we bought when houses were merely expensive, not when they became ridiculous.

A house half a block away, with less of a view and that is MUCH smaller really drives the point home. That house, originally built in 1923, has no front yard, a smallish yard below (it's on a hill) and is a two bedroom, one bath little thing. Yes, it was in immaculate condition, but at 891 square feet, is it worth $679K?

Still, that's what the selling price was. (It was listed at $659K and was sold within a week.)

The median price in this town is WAY over $350K.

What I want to know is how this affects the second houses that some people have. Is this $350K per house?

[newyawker99]

40. Hi sweepster!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[tsuki]

41. I bought my house for 70K less than 17 years ago. They

now go for 400K in my neighborhood. And I live in a working neighborhood, without paved roads, street lights, sidewalks, water or sewer.

70K was difficult for us to qualify for 17 years ago. How does a working, middle class joe qualify for 400K today?

[Walt Starr]

23. Lowering a cap RAISES TAXES

Jam their own rhetoric back down their fucking throats!

[RevolutionStartsNow]

24. I agree, it's a TAX INCREASE, damnit!

It's easy for me to figure out: my taxes would go up THOUSANDS of dollars per year.

[cascadiance]

31. If they truely want a "flat tax" do it with the payroll tax!

Let's stop having people like us pay the same amounts of payroll tax that Bill Gates does! That's damn regressive and you never hear about it. Then Bill Gates and other CEO's would be looked on as more of the liabilities that they really are with their fat salaries and benefits!

[tx_dem41]

26. I agree that it is raising taxes, Walt.....

one I don't mind, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't use it. I was just correcting you on the "removing" part. If you're going to use an issue as a political weapon, make sure you have all the facts right. I'm sure you agree, no?

[dalloway]

12. It is a tax increase aimed right at the blue states who have the

highest housing costs in the nation.

[Balbus]

13. I agree it is a tax increase, but how is it an attack on the middle class?

Is a 350K mortgage standard for the middle class?

[PurityOfEssence]

20. Yes.

In California, we tend to make more, but housing is MUCH more expensive.

[Walt Starr]

25. The vast majority of middle class homes here

run an average of 350K

[Balbus]

39. I always heard homes in AZ were lower than the national average..

but I didn't know they were that much. I guess 350K house in AZ is not really comparable to most rest of the nation.

[Zynx]

32. In Wisconsin, $350K total buys you a virtual palace by CA standards

You'd have to work at it to get a $350K mortgage in this state.

[cascadiance]

34. Perhaps this is a way to force us Dems out of California!

Perhaps the rethugs are looking to make it unaffordable for most of us to live here, at least temporarily before the eoconomy here crashes without us here to be the workforce of this economy.

If they time it right they then can pick up a majority of voting power here and lock up power in the electoral college, etc. in 2008.

[flying_wahini]

15. as usual, the republickens won't object until it starts to cause

them some financial pain. ok for everyone else to feel the burn...
I think 350K home cap is very fair, think 500 would be way too high,
though.... of course, it would depend on your housing market.
where i am 350 will buy you a very nice home.. couldn't say the same on either coast....

[porphyrian]

17. I wonder what their plan is...

...once we're all broke and unable to pay back our debt. Throw us all in prison? Don't they have any historians in their ranks? They want a civil war so they can impose martial law, don't they?

[pitohui]

18. not really, it's raising taxes on the UPPER middle class

you only get this deduction in the first place if you itemize on schedule A, how many here realistically do that?

[PurityOfEssence]

22. Many more than you think

Yes, many on this board are not so well off, but people who have families and are two-earner households SHOULD be using schedule A.

Personally, those of us with rather complex finances (even though FAR from wealthy) tend to have our taxes done by professionals who can do it properly.

[Walt Starr]

28. Um ME!

And the median home price in my area is 350K.

It's much higher in other areas.

[driver8]

29. If you are paying a mortgage, you sure as shit should be doing this!!

If you aren't, you need to see a tax accountant ASAP!!!

[Walt Starr]

33. My mother was filing Schedule A on a small home

when our family income indicated we were in the upper LOWER class back in 1980!

[Jawja]

37. In other words,

this is a back door renig on the "tax cuts" promise and it will affect a LOT of Republicans.

:rofl:

edited to clarify: I am laughing at the Republicans who voted for * based on the tax issue.

[cascadiance]

30. They already raised taxes in the same way earlier...

when they removed the deductions for interest payments on credit cards and other loans earlier, as well as sales tax. That especially hit metro areas with high sales taxes and high cost of living hard where most Dems live. This is just one more step in their pattern to destroy the American way of life through destroying the middle class of America! Say hello to The Feudal Republik of Amerika!

[cassiepriam]

35. What middle class? Isn't it just about gone by now?

Or soon will be, after this winter....

[spanone]

36. Absolutely...

:bounce:

[triguy46]

38. I'm not sure that this can make it through congress...

I think it may play a little rough, especially in housing bubble land.

There will a coinciding shell game in which we will be told that "the tax rates will change" or there will be a "sliding scale" or "progressivity" all of which is bullshit. the average person will get screwed.

[Doctor_J]

43. It's the ONLY tax break most working class people have

it makes sense they will be taking it away.

[MazeRat7]

44. I thought they were talking about a 300k cap, not "removal"

Maybe I missed the point, but I thought they were saying they wanted to cap the deduction @ $300k... which is still a hell of a lot of "interest" to pay on a home.

So "if" I am right and "if" you want to go to bat for the very very rich, then I agree. If they really want to help the middle class they will cap that deduction at around 25-50k... but that will never fly *grin

MZr7