Subject: tax reform panel FOR MORTGAGE INTEREST Comment: Scaling back or even possibly eliminating the mortgage interest rate deduction for homeowners would affect the housing industry dramatically. First time homeowners would not have the incentive to leave their rented homes to purchase a new home. Why take on the headaches of ownership if there are little tax incentives. In TX the appreciation is not that great to offset the maintance of property. Texas has not seen the appreciation the rest of the country has enjoyed. In our area it is approx 3 - 4% increase on a yearly basis. We also pay extremely high property taxes. The benefit currently of being a homeowner is the tax incentive. Removing this would make more homeowners become renters. Then looking at the investor side, those that own the rental units. Why would they want to stay in the business of renting?? For an appreciation of 3 - 4 %, I doubt that. I recommend keeping the mortgage interest rate deduction for homeowners the same, our economy is fragile as it stands already. |