4 ms·
If you got rid of mortgage interest, then almost no one could afford to buy a home.
by s73ver_ 9y ago
If you got rid of mortgage interest, then almost no one could afford to buy a home.
- munk-a 9y agoI think that the government should guarantee housing for everyone, but the mortgage interest rebate doesn't do that. It does allow some portion of the population that couldn't afford a home be able to do so, but that doesn't hold for anyone. Why don't we instead funnel those funds into HUD and provide housing as a right either through urban development projects or through subsidizing privatized low income housing construction (possibly by eating a tax reduction via incentives)? FYI, I'm an expatriate living in BC, Canada where housing prices are insane and almost nobody can afford to buy a home, but the economic reasons here are more specialized to the region.
- dragonwriter 9y agoIf you got rid of the mortgage interest deduction, the market clearing price of homes would fall. (Add an income-based tax subsidy on principal payments on homes—either up front or as part of loan repayment—and you'll do a lot more to improve affordability without doing as much to encourage debt.)
- s73ver_ 9y agoI'm not so sure about the first sentence. And I'd be all for the second, but I'm even more sure that simply won't happen in this political climate.