NAHB and NAR Divided Over Mortgage Deduction

[wasupaloopa]

NAHB and NAR Divided Over Mortgage Deduction

Oct 5 2017, 11:03AM

Is it time to bid farewell to an American-as-Apple-Pie tax deduction?

Maybe.

After 75 years of supporting it against all assaults, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has abandoned its defense of the mortgage interest deduction (MID) one of the more sacred cows in the U.S. tax code. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) however is standing tough.

snip:

The split between NAHB and NAR over the proposed changes comes down of course to the constituency of each. NAHB is more vested in protecting the low-income tax credit, which the proposed changes would not affect. Its chairman, Granger MacDonald said in part, "By lowering the pass-through rate, the plan will reduce the tax bill of thousands of small businesses and help to spur job and economic growth. More importantly, the blueprint maintains the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, the most indispensable tool to help produce affordable rental housing. The plan also retains a business interest deduction for small businesses, which would ensure that our future tax code is truly pro-growth."

snip:

For its part, NAR is standing behind the deduction, and has started running ads defending it. Those ads claim the proposed changes could drive home prices down as much as 10 percent while raising taxes for most middle-income homeowners.

William E. Brown, current NAR president, calls the proposed changes "a backdoor elimination of the mortgage interest deduction for all but the top 5 percent who would still itemize their deductions." NAR, he said "believes the result would all but nullify the incentive to purchase a home for most, amounting to a de facto tax increase on homeowners, putting home values across the country at risk and ensuring that only the top 5 percent of Americans have the opportunity to benefit from the mortgage interest deduction."

http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/10052017_mortgage_interest_deduction.asp

[tymorial]

1. I will be buying a home within the next 6 months. I have been trying to buy a home for years

The real estate costs are just too damned expensive where I live for my household income. My wife and I always owe every year even after increases the amount of income tax deducted from our paychecks. I will admit that I look forward to that deduction. It is quite true that exceeding the standard deductible in order to itemize is quite difficult. I've never come close even though I work from a home office and can deduct some of my expenses and have had medical costs.