Subject: Real Estate Comment: As the director of an Idaho non-profit, concerned with helping organize & find capital for high-technology startups using technology transferred from the Idaho National Lab, I would urge the panel to take a deep, critical look at real estate. Nothing in America has garnered the extent of what Warren Buffett calls, "mal-investement" than real estate---both residential, multi-family & commercial. If we have a real estate bust, from this egregious tax-induced real estate addiction, we will look back and wonder why we didn't see it coming. I urge the panel to apply a strict means test AND cap to residential real estate mortgage-interest deductibility. Way, way way too much of our capital has been wasted in this orgy of consumption! |