patrick.net

My position previously, is there is always something to like and hate about the tax code so I never like to talk about specfic thing on the tax code without addressing the big picture.

Upper class, preferred treatmens of dividends, gains
Upper Middel Class: 401K, pre-tax medical, mortgage interest deduction
Middle Lower class, earned income credit, work opportuntity credit, child tax credit, etc.

You bring up mortageg interest deduction, then you should bring in earned income tax credit subsidy too. Negative refundable tax is a form of subsidy too.

You bring up mortgage interest deduction, then you should bring in earned income tax credit subsidy too

The point is what mix of taxes, at what levels, pays for our government's costs bests.

To propose everything has to rise & fall in lockstep is begging the question, really -- it is fallaciously asserting preserving the status quo is the best policy without any argument in support.

Negative refundable tax is a form of subsidy too.

That encourages people to enter the workforce, a good thing.

If the mortgage interest deduction just encourages people to bid up the price of housing, it is a bad tax break and its absence will not be missed (in the long run).

The "big picture" is that the top 10% own 90% of the assets in this country.

At the end of the day all this paper wealth has to be converted into actual wealth via someone's labor, so the commanding heights of capital we are experiencing now is simply incompatible with what was formerly the American standard of living due to compounding interest on interest being enjoyed by the uberclass.

Something's going to give here.

subsidizing renters by paying their property taxes is the same as penalizing owners
subsidizing renters by allowing them to vote on local parcel taxes is the same as penalizing owners
subsidizing renters by having prop 13 is the same as penalizing new homeowners
subsidizing renters by assuming their asset risk is the same as penalizing owners
subsidizing renters by making a long term commitment in their community is the same as penalizing owners