The NAHB has been carefully protective of the home mortgage interest deduction, speaking out at any time the President or anyone in Congress makes a move that might attempt to get rid of it to help lower the federal budget deficit. Bob Nielsen is the current chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and issued a
statement in response to President Obama’s speech yesterday at George Washington University. The speech focused a lot on deficit reduction – a topic for which we’re not sure he, or any other politician right now, is currently qualified to speak.
Nielsen, who is a home builder from Reno, NV acknowledged that while President Obama restated the significance of tax policy in the area of increasing home ownership, he at the same time endorsed limiting itemized deductions. Limiting these deductions, of course, includes the mortgage interest deduction as well – a trigger for the NAHB. The NAHB believes that homeowners simply shouldn’t be burdened with higher taxes during a time when both the economy is so far down, and homes have undergone extensive correction in value. As the housing market continues its struggle for survival, is this really the solution that makes the most sense?
What also seemed to irk the president of the NAHB was when Obama suggested that many middle-class taxpayers don’t take advantage of itemized deductions. His perspective (one that we share) is that the middle class stands the most to gain from itemized deductions like the mortgage interest deduction. The upper class gain little from depreciated itemizing and the lower class typically file EZ forms and use the standard deduction. Indeed, Nielsen went on to claim that the primary reason taxpayers itemize is precisely due to the mortgage interest deduction, and nearly 70% of tax benefits having to do with this deduction go to those making less than $200,000 per year.
The NAHB, by way of Bob Nielsen, feels that any move to decrease or kill the mortgage interest deduction is a move against middle-class families. Unless congress moves to the Fair Tax or a flat tax, we’d have to agree.
Source: NAHB
