Why should non homeowners continue to subsidize the foolery of home ownership by being subject to a different set of tax laws than those who have been sold on non sense like "The American Dream of Home Ownership" or "Your home is your largest asset?" I say let the deduction go away, allow mortgage rates and down payments to both escalate rapidly and thereby push real estate values, finally, to a true bottom. A bottom that will in fact be stable and will allow future growth based on certainty and knowing where things are and where they are going rather than the instability and uncertainty so prevalent in the housing market today.
In addition to rewarding the often uninformed choice to borrow money to buy a home by creating a tax credit for this insanity, tax payers further subsidize home ownership through our government's continued insistence on holding mortgage rates at levels not representing the risk involved with such loans AND by continuing to guarantee mortgages for people who have no real skin in the game (immediately force buyers to put down 20-30% and see what happens to the default rates!)
Will these changes be popular with the housing industry, the building industry or the financial industries? Of course not. Will they be beneficial to the good people of this country who are struggling to service an ever growing debt load? Extremely.
I have known Ouch! (Kirk Nace) for many years and during that time we have had numerous conversations relating to this subject. If we don't do something drastic, and soon, to change our course I am afraid Kirk will once again prove to be right and we will go the way of the FORMER USSR. Ending up as a series of smaller nation states who find survival only possible once they release themselves from the burdens associated with supporting a corrupt, inefficient, illogical, excessively bloated federal government.
How much does your state or commonwealth provide in tax revenue to the federal government? What do they get in return for these monies? How much longer can you and your neighbors afford this ridiculous expense?
