I must have missed this before... check out this trial balloon

[thoughtanarchist]

After the Social Security reform fiasco do they seriously think they can repeal the mortgage interest deduction?

:wtf:

US agency says tax breaks too costly, need review

By David Lawder
Reuters
Friday, September 23, 2005; 4:18 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tax breaks such as deductions for home mortgage interest and state and local taxes cost the federal government $728 billion last year and need to be reexamined, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report on Friday.

Comptroller General David Walker, who heads the agency, said the government must look at ways to rein in the growth of so-called tax expenditures if it is to avoid huge fiscal deficit problems in future years.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/23/AR2005092301340_pf.html

[RC]

1. Stupid. Do it right, just tax the people who have the money.

[NYC]

3. Money = power.

To quote Leona Helmsley: Only little people pay taxes.

Yes, she did serve time.

[thoughtanarchist]

4. roll back to the 2000 tax laws and we broke even...

at least with the relief effort...

but think of all the folks in upside-down mortgages from the debt frenzy of the past few years... There would have to be a massive real estate sell off forcing prices down and leaving indebted home-owning families vulnerable to lowball offers from rich speculators and....

oh. I get it now...

:mad:

[NYC]

2. Mortgage interest deduction is

subsidized housing. I wonder how the rich would react to such a proposition. Not likely it will be removed.

[Vinnie From Indy]

5. Never Gonna Happen!

[bemildred]

6. That would pop the real estate bubble. nt

[dcfirefighter]

7. mortgage interest deduction is a defacto tax on (poorer) renters

Might be impossible to remove, but at least cut it from $1M and two properties to $500K and one property.

Much of real estate is a ponzi scheme, where the first in get paid by later comers, without producing anything of value. Of course, those who build and improve add value, it's just that all of the added value in real estate appreciation is due to external improvements: roads, schools, public safety, public transit, etc.

There are excellent cases for shifting existing taxes from wages, incomes, and buildings onto land values. Because they would fall on 'natural' wealth, they would not cause any unemployment - as buildings get untaxed, more will be built; as jobs become untaxed, more will be employed; and as productive investment is untaxed, more machines, factories, hospitals, etc will be built.