Originally Posted by JeffS
My stance, of course, is that there shouldn't be tax breaks for either.
Here's another example.
Person A has a mortgage on a 200,000 house.
Person B bought the house next door, but paid with cash they inherited from a long-lost uncle.
Why should person A get a deduction and person B not? (again, I think neither should).
cycleaddict is right, we're propping up the housing market, but we've created a country with enourmous personal debt. What happens if oil prices double or triple? what if natural gas supplies continue to dwindle and noone can afford to heat their traditionally built suburban homes? People start to sell, prices plummet and the whole system comes crashing down.
No, I don't really expect the government to give up the abilty to steer their sheep with taxes. That doesn't keep me from wishing though.
Good points, but personally (even though I choose to rent) I think it's fine if governments use the tax structure to encourage worthy behavior like investing in a home.
I just hate it when the recipeients of these tax deductions refuse to acknowledge that they are benefitting from government entitlement programs, which are really the same as welfare. These middle-class recipients are either ungrateful or hypocritical when they rag on poor people for accepting handouts, then turn around and accept much larger handouts for themselves.