Are politicians trying to destroy the housing market?
Over at FoxNews.com, Libertarian National Campaign Committee Chairman Wayne Allyn Root exposes how Republican and Democrat politicians are destroying the dream of home ownership.
Root writes, in part:
The damning evidence is in on two fronts: Housing continues to collapse to unimaginable levels. — The latest numbers are in from December, showing that home prices fell in 18 of 20 markets.
The statistics prove this housing collapse is now worse than the Great Depression…
…President Obama’s big idea to save the economy from a collapsing housing market is to eliminate, or severely limit, the most important tax benefit in America today- the mortgage interest deduction for upper income taxpayers.
In other words, in order to help housing, Obama wants to eliminate the only thing that makes it advantageous to own a home. Sweet!
Can you imagine a more ignorant political leader? Homeowners depend on that deduction to pay their mortgage…
…I wish I could say it was only Obama and his socialist cabal that did not understand the importance of the housing market. But Mitt Romney, the leading contender for the GOP nomination, just released his “tax simplification plan.”.
Lo and behold, he too plans to eliminate or dramatically limit the mortgage deduction for upper income Americans. Certainly this plan is far superior to Obama’s — simply because Romney reduces income tax rates across the board by 20% in return for the loss of deductions. But that won’t stop the real estate market from collapsing.
Let’s look at the ramifications of Mitt’s plan. If you cut my taxes by 20%, but at the same time take away my mortgage and charitable deductions, you’ve raised my overall taxes…all at the same time you’ve dropped the value of a $1,000,000 home by 30% overnight. That means I’m paying more taxes, while my net worth just dropped by $300,000.
If I own a $2,000,000 home, you just dropped by net worth by $600,000. With that double whammy, upper income taxpayers will slow our spending, stop borrowing, and many of us will actually lose our homes to foreclosure.
Why would Romney propose this idea? Because he’s trying to simplify and flatten tax rates.
That’s a good intention. Although the road to hell has always been paved with good intentions.
Someone needs to point out to Romney and the GOP that the most successful economy in the world belongs to Hong Kong. Their model is a 15% flat tax combined with 0% capital gains tax. But included in this mega successful 15% flat tax system, they allow mortgage interest deduction of up to $1,000,000 and charitable contributions.
Are you listening Mitt?
Read Wayne’s full column at http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/02/28/are-politicians-trying-to-destroy-housing-market/#ixzz1pEC4kjjR
