A committee appointed by President Bush has come up with an alarming recommendation. They want to limit the tax deduction for mortgage interest!
Reform
Following his re-election, President Bush set up an aggressive agenda in which he hoped to reform social security and the tax code amongst other things. As with many things in the political world, this sounded easier done than it really was. With social security, political forces have forced the President to pull back from private accounts. With tax reform, a similar political and practical mistake is being made.
Limited Deduction
The bipartisan tax reform committee appointed by President Bush is making a mess of things. They are proposing the elimination of the Alternative Minimum Tax, which is clearly a good thing. Unfortunately, they are also proposing a limit on the tax deduction you can take for mortgage interests.
Although the final recommendations are not yet published, leaks have led to the belief the tax reform committee is going to propose the mortgage interest tax deduction be limited to the percentage of any loan that the Federal Housing Administration would write. Put another...