5 ms·

Can you say more about the influence of renters? It seems to me to be the opposite. The mortgage interest tax deduction is a massive regressive government subs

Can you say more about the influence of renters? It seems to me to be the opposite. The mortgage interest tax deduction is a massive regressive government subsidy for homeowners, and penalizes younger people who rent or cannot afford to buy a home. So I’m curious what suggests to you that renters have political power. To me it seems the opposite - tax policy massively prefers owners over renters.

tptacek 4y ago
I agree with you about the mortgage interest deduction. I'm not saying renters have outsized political power; they have, more likely, undersized political power. I'm saying very narrowly that in the market for multifamily building construction, people that need more bedrooms are an important market force, one the market has to pay attention to. The whole 1bdr vs. 3bdr thing is a total sideshow; the actual issue, again, is SFZ.
sokoloff 4y ago
Renters are overwhelmingly living in properties that have mortgages against them and commercial loans are always deductible. The deduction for mortgages on owner-occupied property serves to put prospective owners (including current renters) on a more equal footing when bidding against landlords for property.
- tptacek 4y ago
  It is an immense giveway to the top income quintiles, which receive between 70-80% of the benefit, and giving "prospective owners" preference over "landlords" practically by definition reduces density and thus affordability.
  - sokoloff 4y ago
    It's not about giving preference to owner-occupants; it's about neutralizing the preference to landlords that would otherwise result.
    - tptacek 4y ago
      Again, that is inherently a policy decision that reduces density and affordability; by definition, "landlords" are people that own and operate multi-family dwellings. You could just as easily ask "why not give more of a preference to landlords?" It's probably useful for you to understand my, uh, priors? about this, which include the fact that I live in an overwhelmingly SFZ community that actively works to prevent the construction of multi-family dwellings, often with appeals to the evil of "landlords".
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      - sokoloff 4y ago
        There's plenty of landlords who own SFRs as well. Building for building, I don't think tax policy should favor landlords over owner-occupants. How zoning should work is an orthogonal question in my view.
        tptacek 4y ago
        Most owner-occupants own SFZ lots. Every owner of a multi-family dwelling is a landlord.
        sokoloff 4y ago
        I'd prefer that an owner-occupant be able to write off the interest on N/N units on a parcel, just the same as a landlord is able to write off the interest on N/N units. That's true for N=1 (SFR), N=2 (duplex, half-occupied by the owner), N=3 (triple-decker with owner living in one), or N=50.

tptacek 4y ago

I agree with you about the mortgage interest deduction. I'm not saying renters have outsized political power; they have, more likely, undersized political power. I'm saying very narrowly that in the market for multifamily building construction, people that need more bedrooms are an important market force, one the market has to pay attention to. The whole 1bdr vs. 3bdr thing is a total sideshow; the actual issue, again, is SFZ.

sokoloff 4y ago

Renters are overwhelmingly living in properties that have mortgages against them and commercial loans are always deductible. The deduction for mortgages on owner-occupied property serves to put prospective owners (including current renters) on a more equal footing when bidding against landlords for property.

tptacek 4y ago
It is an immense giveway to the top income quintiles, which receive between 70-80% of the benefit, and giving "prospective owners" preference over "landlords" practically by definition reduces density and thus affordability.
- sokoloff 4y ago
  It's not about giving preference to owner-occupants; it's about neutralizing the preference to landlords that would otherwise result.
  - tptacek 4y ago
    Again, that is inherently a policy decision that reduces density and affordability; by definition, "landlords" are people that own and operate multi-family dwellings. You could just as easily ask "why not give more of a preference to landlords?" It's probably useful for you to understand my, uh, priors? about this, which include the fact that I live in an overwhelmingly SFZ community that actively works to prevent the construction of multi-family dwellings, often with appeals to the evil of "landlords".
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - sokoloff 4y ago
      There's plenty of landlords who own SFRs as well. Building for building, I don't think tax policy should favor landlords over owner-occupants. How zoning should work is an orthogonal question in my view.
      - tptacek 4y ago
        Most owner-occupants own SFZ lots. Every owner of a multi-family dwelling is a landlord.
        sokoloff 4y ago
        I'd prefer that an owner-occupant be able to write off the interest on N/N units on a parcel, just the same as a landlord is able to write off the interest on N/N units. That's true for N=1 (SFR), N=2 (duplex, half-occupied by the owner), N=3 (triple-decker with owner living in one), or N=50.