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Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction[W:133]

Tettsuo

Tettsuo

Compassion is Strength
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Republican Platform Won

Republican platform drafters refused to put their party on record for preserving the mortgage- interest deduction, giving Mitt Romney more flexibility to promote his plan to lower tax rates paid by corporations and the wealthiest Americans without increasing the federal debt.
The platform committee, meeting in Tampa, Florida, in advance of the Aug. 27 Republican National Convention, yesterday defeated an amendment on the mortgage deduction issue by a show of hands as it moved toward today’s scheduled completion of the draft statement of positions the party will offer voters in the November election.
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Tax cuts for the rich is clearly more important that anything else. You stay classy Conservatives. :shock:
 
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Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

I don't understand why mortgage interest should be tax deductable anyway.
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

tessaesque said:
I don't understand why mortgage interest should be tax deductable anyway.
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I shouldn't. But, do you think now is the time to increase taxes for home owners (middle class) so we can afford to decrease taxes for the most wealthy of us and corporations?
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

Tettsuo said:
I shouldn't. But, do you think now is the time to increase taxes for home owners (middle class) so we can afford to decrease taxes for the most wealthy of us and corporations?
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You don't think higher earners own homes with mortgages?
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

Tettsuo said:
I shouldn't. But, do you think now is the time to increase taxes for home owners (middle class) so we can afford to decrease taxes for the most wealthy of us and corporations?
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I just bought a house. I wouldn't miss the money. It's part of my monthly mortgage payment, which I wouldn't have if I couldn't afford. So not getting part of my mortgage payment back at tax time isn't exactly the end of the world. People who depend on that money at tax time have bigger issues than having their taxes "increased", IMO.
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

washunut said:
You don't think higher earners own homes with mortgages?
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Don't remember saying that. That's right, I didn't.
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

Also, this:

According to data compiled by the 2005 President's advisory panel on federal tax reform, only 54% of taxpayers who pay interest on their mortgages receive a tax benefit. That leaves a hefty 46% of homeowners paying interest, but receiving no benefit at all. Even those who do receive a benefit are likely to receive far less than they expect.

Read more: Calculating The Mortgage Interest Tax Deduction
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Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

Tettsuo said:
Don't remember saying that. That's right, I didn't.
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So why the silly comment about taxing the middle class on this issue. What if the mortgage deduction was capped at $250K as some propose, would that be OK or is just more partisan B.S.
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

tessaesque said:
I just bought a house. I wouldn't miss the money. It's part of my monthly mortgage payment, which I wouldn't have if I couldn't afford. So not getting part of my mortgage payment back at tax time isn't exactly the end of the world. People who depend on that money at tax time have bigger issues than having their taxes "increased", IMO.
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It's a shame everyone that's currently struggling with underemployment or a spouse that currently not employed at all aren't in the same boat as you and I.

But the bigger picture is we need to get this stall economy going as the rich aren't hiring due to poor demand. Increasing taxes on huge swatch of America will weaken demand even more. The 2% at the top can live just fine without another tax cut. Corporations are doing pretty well and also don't need a tax cut at the moment. How about waiting until we're out of woods and have balanced the budget before putting us back into a deficit situation? At least Bush Jr had the intelligence to do that much.
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

washunut said:
So why the silly comment about taxing the middle class on this issue.
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Because the middle class would be far more impacted by the tax hike than those that are well to do.
What if the mortgage deduction was capped at $250K as some propose, would that be OK or is just more partisan B.S.
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How about leaving tax hikes for the 98% of the country until we can get out of this crappy economy. Or do you believe the wealthiest of Americans just GOTTA have their tax cuts now?
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

Tettsuo said:
It's a shame everyone that's currently struggling with underemployment or a spouse that currently not employed at all aren't in the same boat as you and I.

But the bigger picture is we need to get this stall economy going as the rich aren't hiring due to poor demand. Increasing taxes on huge swatch of America will weaken demand even more. The 2% at the top can live just fine without another tax cut. Corporations are doing pretty well and also don't need a tax cut at the moment. How about waiting until we're out of woods and have balanced the budget before putting us back into a deficit situation? At least Bush Jr had the intelligence to do that much.
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Nobody's seriously trying to balance the budget or cut spending.

Getting rid of tax deductions should have been done a long time ago. And the rich would see a larger increase in their tax obligation than anybody else would by eliminating the mortgage tax deduction, so this whole "supporting tax cuts for the rich" nonsense is unsubstantiated in regards to the mortgage tax deduction.

When the time comes to pay the piper we're all going to have to pay. We could take 100% of what the rich make and be unable to fund the government for more than a few days, and we couldn't even conceive of covering the yearly deficit with it. That means everybody will see higher taxes, even if we decrease spending. It's time to stop trying to use the rich as scapegoats and accept that we're all on the hook.
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

Eliminating the mortgage interest deduction would be very good for our economy in the long term, and contrary to popular belief, it WOULD make the tax code more progressive. This is because the kinds of homes that middle-class people tend to own have much smaller mortgages. And although eliminating it would cause taxes to increase slightly on some middle-class households, it would increase taxes far more on the upper-class, bring in some additional revenue, and eliminate a major distortion in the market. On the balance it's most definitely worth it to get rid of the mortgage interest deduction.

With that said, I question if we might be better off waiting a few years. The biggest domestic economic problem that has been holding the recovery back (and which caused the crisis in the first place) is the housing market. Eliminating the mortgage interest deduction would unquestionably send home prices even lower...possibly a lot lower. Eventually this will be both necessary and desirable, but I think it might be a good idea to wait until the economy is on more solid footing...and maybe gradually phase it out instead of suddenly eliminating it.
 
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Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

Kandahar said:
Eliminating the mortgage interest deduction would be very good for our economy in the long term, and contrary to popular belief, it WOULD make the tax code more progressive. This is because the kinds of homes that middle-class people tend to own have much smaller mortgages. And although eliminating it would cause taxes to increase slightly on some middle-class households, it would increase taxes far more on the upper-class, bring in some additional revenue, and eliminate a major distortion in the market. On the balance it's most definitely worth it to get rid of the mortgage interest deduction.

With that said, I question if we might be better off waiting a few years. The biggest domestic economic problem that has been holding the recovery back (and which caused the crisis in the first place) is the housing market. Eliminating the mortgage interest deduction would unquestionably send home prices even lower...possibly a lot lower. Eventually this will be both necessary and desirable, but I think it might be a good idea to wait until the economy is on more solid footing...and maybe gradually phase it out instead of suddenly eliminating it.
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I disagree that would have a greater impact on the wealthy as they are not in dire straits.

It's also more likely that the most wealthy Americans would have better rates on their mortgage or no mortgage at all.
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

Tettsuo said:
Republican Platform Won

Tax cuts for the rich is clearly more important that anything else. You stay classy Conservatives. :shock:
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Right, because class is defined by the blatant misacategorization of the opposition's platform... :roll: you must know...

I also don't see where the Constitution guarantees the right to a tax deductions for mortgaging property in order to be able to buy it... so I dont see why you're up in arms here.

Some conservatives want a completely flat tax code, without all the odds and ends that complicate things... so we can save a significant amount of money in funding the IRS...

I'm not a conservative... but that appeals to me... Why should we keep paying billions of tax dollars to the IRS, to oversee the collection of taxes, while we complicate how we are taxed even further...

Simplify the tax code, streamline everything, eliminate all the credits, breaks, and loopholes... Then everyone can pay their "fair" share...

a flat 15% income tax...

You should not be rewarded with tax breaks for being married
You should not be rewarded with tax breaks for having children
You should not be rewarded with tax breaks for buying a specific type of car
You should not be rewarded with tax breaks for buying a home
You should not be rewarded with a tax break for anything...

If we have a tax, it should be assessed on everyone equally...

Which is pretty much why the US came to being... throwing off the chains of unjust taxation by the British Empire... Then the Congress has gone and implemented just that...
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

Tettsuo said:
I shouldn't. But, do you think now is the time to increase taxes for home owners (middle class) so we can afford to decrease taxes for the most wealthy of us and corporations?
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LMFAO... so you started a whole thread on how ridiculous it is that Republicans won't comit to mortgage tax deductions...

YET YOU DON'T THINK THEY SHOULD BE DEDUCTABLE!!!

That's effin brilliant...

and people wonder why things can't get done today... People even fight against what they're for...
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

IndepCentristMA said:
Right, because class is defined by the blatant misacategorization of the opposition's platform... :roll: you must know...

I also don't see where the Constitution guarantees the right to a tax deductions for mortgaging property in order to be able to buy it... so I dont see why you're up in arms here.

Some conservatives want a completely flat tax code, without all the odds and ends that complicate things... so we can save a significant amount of money in funding the IRS...

I'm not a conservative... but that appeals to me... Why should we keep paying billions of tax dollars to the IRS, to oversee the collection of taxes, while we complicate how we are taxed even further...

Simplify the tax code, streamline everything, eliminate all the credits, breaks, and loopholes... Then everyone can pay their "fair" share...

a flat 15% income tax...

You should not be rewarded with tax breaks for being married
You should not be rewarded with tax breaks for having children
You should not be rewarded with tax breaks for buying a specific type of car
You should not be rewarded with tax breaks for buying a home
You should not be rewarded with a tax break for anything...

If we have a tax, it should be assessed on everyone equally...

Which is pretty much why the US came to being... throwing off the chains of unjust taxation by the British Empire... Then the Congress has gone and implemented just that...
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I agree except the bolded. I think those who operate small businesses identified by the owner's SSN (without the use of rented office space) should be able to deduct a portion of phone/internet/mortgage/electricity for office space in their homes..

My dad, for example, pays about 16% of his income in taxes every year after those deductions, and he doesn't make a hell of a lot. If he didn't get those deductions he'd be closer to 25% and it would make maintaining his small business (1 full time employee and 3 part time employees) incredibly difficult.
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

IndepCentristMA said:
Right, because class is defined by the blatant misacategorization of the opposition's platform... :roll: you must know...
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How did I mischaracterize the Republican platform?

I also don't see where the Constitution guarantees the right to a tax deductions for mortgaging property in order to be able to buy it... so I dont see why you're up in arms here.
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I'm up in arms because the right are willing to cut the throats of the middle class so they can give a tax break to their buddies during a time where demand is low and the economy could slip back into recession quite easily.
Some conservatives want a completely flat tax code, without all the odds and ends that complicate things... so we can save a significant amount of money in funding the IRS...
Click to expand...
I'm not against that at all, so long as all income is on the table.
Simplify the tax code, streamline everything, eliminate all the credits, breaks, and loopholes... Then everyone can pay their "fair" share...
You should not be rewarded with tax breaks for being married
You should not be rewarded with tax breaks for having children
You should not be rewarded with tax breaks for buying a specific type of car
You should not be rewarded with tax breaks for buying a home
You should not be rewarded with a tax break for anything...

If we have a tax, it should be assessed on everyone equally...

Which is pretty much why the US came to being... throwing off the chains of unjust taxation by the British Empire... Then the Congress has gone and implemented just that...
Click to expand...
I'm addressing the timing. It wasn't too long ago the Republicans were holding unemployment benefits hostage so they could keep all of Bush's tax cuts in place because raising taxes would harm the fragile economy. Now, it's fine because Romney wants to do it.

So why not hit capital gains as well? Oh, that's right... they want to cut that.

Capital Gains Fault Line as Obama-Romney Tax Plans Differ - Bloomberg
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

Kandahar said:
Eliminating the mortgage interest deduction would be very good for our economy in the long term, and contrary to popular belief, it WOULD make the tax code more progressive. This is because the kinds of homes that middle-class people tend to own have much smaller mortgages. And although eliminating it would cause taxes to increase slightly on some middle-class households, it would increase taxes far more on the upper-class, bring in some additional revenue, and eliminate a major distortion in the market. On the balance it's most definitely worth it to get rid of the mortgage interest deduction.

With that said, I question if we might be better off waiting a few years. The biggest domestic economic problem that has been holding the recovery back (and which caused the crisis in the first place) is the housing market. Eliminating the mortgage interest deduction would unquestionably send home prices even lower...possibly a lot lower. Eventually this will be both necessary and desirable, but I think it might be a good idea to wait until the economy is on more solid footing...and maybe gradually phase it out instead of suddenly eliminating it.
Click to expand...

Or for the time being cap it at 250k or some number like that then later taper it down..possibly to an amount between 0-50,000(as to protect lower income homeowners)
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

Tettsuo said:
So why not hit capital gains as well? Oh, that's right... they want to cut that.

Capital Gains Fault Line as Obama-Romney Tax Plans Differ - Bloomberg
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Romney proposes keeping the current 15 percent capital gains rate for the estimated 2 percent of households making more than $200,000 a year and eliminating investment taxes for everyone else. Obama wants the rate to rise to 23.8 percent as scheduled in 2013.
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Doesn't this go against your "Republicans want to tax the poor to pay the rich" premise?
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

Tettsuo said:
It's a shame everyone that's currently struggling with underemployment or a spouse that currently not employed at all aren't in the same boat as you and I.

But the bigger picture is we need to get this stall economy going as the rich aren't hiring due to poor demand. Increasing taxes on huge swatch of America will weaken demand even more. The 2% at the top can live just fine without another tax cut. Corporations are doing pretty well and also don't need a tax cut at the moment. How about waiting until we're out of woods and have balanced the budget before putting us back into a deficit situation? At least Bush Jr had the intelligence to do that much.
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Blame the person responsible for the horrible economy - Barack Hussein Obama

5 trillion spent 15% Real Unemployment. He has you shilling on internet forums for him about "taxing the rich" as he robs your children blind. Wake up.
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

Tettsuo said:
I disagree that would have a greater impact on the wealthy as they are not in dire straits.
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Well, it won't affect middle-class families either unless they choose to own their homes. They can simply choose not to participate by not owning a home. And if we phase it out slowly, it will give more people an opportunity to decide if they want to buy a home knowing they can't deduct the mortgage interest. This is another reason I favor a slow phase-out of the mortgage interest deduction...it's more fair than suddenly surprising homeowners with a tax they weren't expecting and which they can't avoid (because their home values are suddenly lower).

It's also more likely that the most wealthy Americans would have better rates on their mortgage or no mortgage at all.
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That isn't necessarily true. Credit-worthiness and income are only weakly correlated.
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

The main reason the deduction primarily benefits the wealthy is that you only GET the deduction if you itemize your tax return ... and most middle class people do not itemize.

I'm all for getting rid of the deduction but as others have said, NOT now when the housing industry is just starting to show a pulse.
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

Tettsuo said:
Because the middle class would be far more impacted by the tax hike than those that are well to do.

How about leaving tax hikes for the 98% of the country until we can get out of this crappy economy. Or do you believe the wealthiest of Americans just GOTTA have their tax cuts now?
Click to expand...

I never said anybody needs tax cuts now. Not sure why you keep talking about a middle class tax INCREASE. I am not sure anyone has the real numbers until congress actually passes a bill.
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

Tettsuo said:
Republican Platform Won



Tax cuts for the rich is clearly more important that anything else. You stay classy Conservatives. :shock:
Click to expand...

Your mortgage tax deduction is stupid.

But sure, I would love it, could make a huge difference as a home owner. Not so great for renters, but screw them, they're poorer than me.

Also, really, really great for banks and other lenders but since it is great for me and screws people I don't care about (by driving up housing prices, which I guess you guys managed to solve all on your own down there), I'm totally a believer in it.

Throw in some income splitting so that I can shift income to my wife, and I'm one happy camper.

I love electioneering a la that SNL skit with the freeloader asking fake Clinton at a town hall "Where's my stuff? I'm not voting till I get my stuff.

And tax cuts for "the rich" are important, though they are not actually happening here.
 
Re: Republican Platform Won’t Protect Mortgage Tax Deduction

Tettsuo said:
It's a shame everyone that's currently struggling with underemployment or a spouse that currently not employed at all aren't in the same boat as you and I.

But the bigger picture is we need to get this stall economy going as the rich aren't hiring due to poor demand. Increasing taxes on huge swatch of America will weaken demand even more. The 2% at the top can live just fine without another tax cut. Corporations are doing pretty well and also don't need a tax cut at the moment. How about waiting until we're out of woods and have balanced the budget before putting us back into a deficit situation? At least Bush Jr had the intelligence to do that much.
Click to expand...

You mean the balanced budget that Obama is proposing for two thousand and never?
 
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