Income Inequality and Tax Policy

[regexcellent]

Mother****ing SOLD. Sign me up.

[Dauphin]

But there is little safety if you can get turfed out of rented accomadation with 1 weeks notice.

Not that common relative to the renting population, but even when it does happen finding new rental accommodation is an inconvenience only. If you are saying it's a finance thing ( e.g., didn't pay the rent) then the issue is not one of rent v buy.

[PLATO]

As in is anyone still a fan of them. I don't think we need to encourage home buying - and once housing recovery occurs, you aren't going to see the deduction removed.

Sadly true. The MBA is a very good organization though. As to the mortgage interest deduction...you are probably correct, but remember that prior to Reagan you could deduct credit card interest as well and everyone said that would never go away.

[Felch]

He compared those who complain about paying a greater percentage of their wealth in taxes to the Disney (DIS, Fortune 500) character Scrooge McDuck.

Duck Tales

[Imran Siddiqui]

remember that prior to Reagan you could deduct credit card interest as well and everyone said that would never go away.

I'm guessing that was likely the result of exploding credit card usage in the early 80s (personal deduction went away in the Tax Reform Act of 1986), which wasn't something that was really an an issue prior to that - likely started costing the Treasury a good bit of cash .

[Jaguar]

Of course they won't. It'd be nice if the GOP gave some on taxes (or heck, thought about trading higher income taxes for lower corporate taxes) and the Dems gave some on entitlement reform... but there is too much vested interest in being over partisan.

I'm a Republican who is literally employed in tax economics. I would trade higher income taxes for lower corporate taxes in a heartbeat. Try telling my brethren that, and see how you do. I'm not holding my breath.

Of course, on the Dem side, they actually should be willing to trade lower corporate taxes for nothing. The wage increases and job growth for workers in capital-intensive industries based in the US (who tend be heavily Dem) would be astounding.

But yeah, try telling them that and see how you do.

[Krill]

Not that common relative to the renting population, but even when it does happen finding new rental accommodation is an inconvenience only. If you are saying it's a finance thing ( e.g., didn't pay the rent) then the issue is not one of rent v buy.

It's not really relevant that it's rare, that it can happen at all is a huge stressor to people. And be honest, if you expect it to be easy to move as tenants with short noticve, that probably has to also apply to the landlord to be able to evict and rent the accomadation to better paying tenants.

[Dauphin]

It's not really relevant that it's rare, that it can happen at all is a huge stressor to people. And be honest, if you expect it to be easy to move as tenants with short noticve, that probably has to also apply to the landlord to be able to evict and rent the accomadation to better paying tenants.

But then so is eviction through failure to pay your mortgage.

I am not arguing renting is better than buying, only that a policy to support or increase home ownership is questionable. Why not make it law to support renters, by having asymmetrical notice periods or tax deductions for rent. Rent control exists after all.

[Krill]

I'm not saying it would be because of none payment. I thought your core point would be that renting would enable greater mobility for workers, and if that is the case, then short notice periods are necessary. But at the same time, there has to be available housing for people to move to. Then there are all the social effects of labour movement such as lack of social support (ie moving away from family) which can have a huge effect on health (statistically significant negative effect on mental health for one which does lead to additional costs through health services).

[Dauphin]

Yes. As a basic question.

When I move around for work I don't buy a place. I rent. Home ownership can tie you to a single location and reduce flexibility.

[Krill]

DanS'ed

[Dauphin]

Yes. Sorry. I am on a tablet and it makes me lazier in expressing my points correctly first time.

[Krill]

Meh, np. FWIW, in Stoke, the cost of renting and paying a mortgage is about the same (like, for the same quality house in the same area, there's no real difference). Even if you could move for work, you have the upheaval of potentially moving children about and disrupting education, what if partner is currently employed but you aren't etc. Taking a longer term view, I'd say that it's probably more cost efficient to actually support communities where they are rather than focusing on labour movements.

[Dauphin]

I just don't understand why a market distorting policy to increase home ownership is necessary. It feels like a pre-occupation of the Daily Mail class.

[The Mad Monk]

also, notice the correlation between Republican presidents and spending increases... Democrat presidents and spending decreases

All that tells me is that Republican congressmen are more likely to do their jobs with a Democrat president, and that Democrat congressmen will be spendthrift no matter who's president.