{"id":7171,"date":"2010-06-09T11:03:15","date_gmt":"2010-06-09T18:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=7171"},"modified":"2010-06-09T11:03:13","modified_gmt":"2010-06-09T18:03:13","slug":"what-if-they-reduced-a-tax-deduction-hardly-anybody-gets-if-youre-the-fib-spinning-pinocchio-at-the-national-association-of-realtors-your-whole-make-believe-world-just-collapsed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7171\/what-if-they-reduced-a-tax-deduction-hardly-anybody-gets-if-youre-the-fib-spinning-pinocchio-at-the-national-association-of-realtors-your-whole-make-believe-world-just-collapsed\/","title":{"rendered":"What if they reduced a tax deduction hardly anybody gets? If you\u2019re the the National Association of Realtors and you’ve been spinning lies for decades about mortgage interest deductibility, your whole make-believe world just collapsed\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kicking this back to the top. It’s news again. I wrote this post more than a year ago, but, per The Hill<\/em>, the tax-deductibility of mortgage interest is back on the table:<\/a><\/p>\n

The popular tax break for mortgage interest, once considered untouchable, is falling under the scrutiny of policymakers and economic experts seeking ways to close huge deficits.<\/p>\n

Although Congress last year rejected the White House\u2019s proposed cut to the amount wealthier taxpayers can deduct for home mortgage interest payments, the administration included it again in its 2010 budget \u2014 saying it could save $208 billion over the next decade.<\/p>\n

And now that sentiment has turned against all the federal red ink \u2014 and cost-cutting is in vogue \u2014 Democrats on President Barack Obama\u2019s financial commission are considering the wisdom of permanent tax breaks such as the mortgage deduction and corporate deferral. Calling them \u201ctax entitlements,\u201d senior Democratic lawmakers have argued they should be on the table for reform just like traditional entitlement programs Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nothing has changed in my response to this news, so let’s dial the wayback machine back to February 26, 2009:<\/p>\n

    The bay-trees in our country are all wither’d
\n    And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven;
\n    The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth
\n    And lean-look’d prophets whisper fearful change;
\n    Rich men look sad and ruffians dance and leap,
\n    The one in fear to lose what they enjoy,
\n    The other to enjoy by rage and war:
\n    These signs forerun the death or fall of kings.<\/i>
\n        — William Shakespeare, Richard II<\/i><\/p>\n

I was out showing this afternoon and came home to find that President Barrack Obama has proposed giving the NAR’s cherished mortgage income tax deduction a very small haircut. From The Wall Street Journal:<\/a><\/p>\n

The tax increases would raise an estimated $318 billion over 10 years by reducing the value of such longstanding deductions as mortgage interest and charitable contributions for people in the highest tax brackets. Households paying income taxes at the 33% and 35% rates can currently claim deductions at those rates. Under the Obama proposal, they could deduct only 28% of the value of those payments.<\/p>\n

The changes would be phased in gradually over the Read more<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kicking this back to the top. It’s news again. I wrote this post more than a year ago, but, per The Hill, the tax-deductibility of mortgage interest is back on the table: The popular tax break for mortgage interest, once considered untouchable, is falling under the scrutiny of policymakers and economic experts seeking ways to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[251,24,6,5,30],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7171","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-big-mother","7":"category-egoism-in-action","8":"category-marketing","9":"category-real-estate","10":"category-supplanting-the-nar","12":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1558,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1558\/pay-the-loan-down-and-refinance-later-the-irs-is-out-to-getchya\/","url_meta":{"origin":7171,"position":0},"title":"Pay the Loan Down and Refinance Later? The IRS is Out To Getchya !","author":"Brian Brady","date":"June 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Rising real estate prices and serial \"cash-out\" refinance transactions has the IRS licking their chops. Mortgage interest deductions are limited to the acquisition indebtedness plus a maximum of $100,000 for home equity indebtedness. Scofflaws have taken advantage of the fact that the IRS is not able to track the segregation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8522,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/8522\/no-more-free-lunch-understanding-the-national-association-of-realtors-all-the-way-down-to-your-bones\/","url_meta":{"origin":7171,"position":1},"title":"No more free lunch! Understanding the National Association of Realtors — all the way down to your bones…","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Michael DiMella wrote the remarks quoted below in a comment, but I've extracted them and my responses to him into a separate post. The meta issue is this: Is the NAR a criminal conspiracy against consumers, and, whether or not it is, is there nothing else good about it? Michael\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egoism in Action"","block_context":{"text":"Egoism in Action","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/egoism-in-action\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12198,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12198\/if-the-national-association-of-realtors-were-to-back-the-repeal-of-the-mortgage-interest-tax-deduction-it-could-do-three-very-patriotic-things-it-could-reduce-the-debt-load-on-all-americans-help-co\/","url_meta":{"origin":7171,"position":2},"title":"If the National Association of Realtors were to back the repeal of the mortgage interest tax deduction, it could do three very patriotic things: It could reduce the debt load on all Americans, help consumers make wiser use of their money — and get itself off the dole!","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I had thought I had said my piece yesterday about the move to repeal the mortgage interest tax deduction as a means of reducing the federal deficit, but today I feel I have not said enough. Here's what I would add: The National Association of Realtors should lead the charge\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egoism in Action"","block_context":{"text":"Egoism in Action","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/egoism-in-action\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1788,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1788\/thomas-sowell-housing-woes-caused-by-land-use-restrictions-and-federal-micro-management-of-lenders\/","url_meta":{"origin":7171,"position":3},"title":"Thomas Sowell: Housing woes caused by land-use restrictions and federal micro-management of lenders","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Hoover Institute Economist Thomas Sowell:Amid all the hand-wringing and finger-pointing as housing markets collapse, mortgage foreclosures skyrocket, and financial markets panic, there is very little attention being paid to the fundamental economic and political decisions that led to this mess. The growth in risky \"sub-prime\" mortgage loans by people buying\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5572,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/5572\/by-making-war-on-private-property-rights-the-national-association-of-realtors-is-making-war-on-everything-we-are-as-americans\/","url_meta":{"origin":7171,"position":4},"title":"By making war on private property rights, the National Association of Realtors is making war on everything we are as Americans","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm responding here to a comment from Dave Phillips, who is to be commended in advance for bearing up to the strain.I will invite President Gaylord to read and possibly respond if you promise to be a good doggy and engage in polite discussion (i.e., avoid inflamed rhetoric like \u201cRotarian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1162,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1162\/health-wealth-population-the-internet-and-more-wealth-these-folks-are-going-to-need-a-place-to-live\/","url_meta":{"origin":7171,"position":5},"title":"Health, wealth, population, the internet — and more wealth: These folks are going to need a place to live . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"During the boom, I wondered if the results we were seeing might have been fed by a reinterpretation of tax laws -- deductibility of leveraged interest, the owner-occupant capital gains exclusion, the IRS Section 1031 tax-deferred exchange, accelerated depreciation of real estate related chattel assets, etc. In other words, were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7171"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12186,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7171\/revisions\/12186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}