A spot on piece from Money Magazine assistant managing editor, Pat Regnier. Click here to read the entire list or see my personal favorite in the following excerpt:
2007 Mortgage subsidy cost: $85 billion
As every realtor will remind you, you can deduct the interest you pay on up to $1 million in mortgage debt on a first or second home. Does this promote home ownership? Doubtful. As a presidential tax reform panel noted in 2005, our 69% ownership rate is about the same as in Canada, Britain and Australia, which don't have the deduction.
Many would-be buyers enjoy no subsidy because they don't earn enough to itemize - Burman says they may even find it harder to buy insofar as the subsidy raises prices.
If anything, said the panel, the deduction may simply encourage higher-income people to take out bigger loans for bigger houses. This overinvestment in real estate might actually hurt the economy because it soaks up money that could have been put to more productive use.
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