Homebuyer Tax Credit
I have never had a mortgage because I have always believed that an individual having mortgage debt was essentially engaging in a form risky behavior. Many a times I cringed hearing real estate agents and mortgage brokers tell their clients to get the biggest house they can to get “the deduction.”
Because of that belief, I have always felt that the allowance of a mortgage interest deduction was simply a subsidy on my part as a taxpayer to others that were in fact reckless. We do not have to look that far back in history to George Bush’s “home ownership society” to see the ultimate danger of that reckless behavior.
That mortgage interest deduction is a direct Federal handout amounting to thousands of dollars, not once, but over fifteen, thirty or even more years.
As a result, when I first learned of the original homebuyer tax credit I started thinking that it was indeed a great idea to encourage the purchase of a home. While it helps someone get in the door, it is not built around tax deduction considerations that may or may not apply. I believe in helping people to buy a home, not inducing them to get the biggest mortgage they can.
The home buyer tax credit has now been extended and expanded, passing this time with tremendous Republican support;
WASHINGTON — Buying a home is about to get cheaper for a whole new crop of homebuyers — $6,500 cheaper.
First-time homebuyers have been getting tax credits of up to $8,000 since January as part of the economic stimulus package enacted earlier this year. But with the program scheduled to expire at the end of November, the House voted 403-12 Thursday to extend and expand the tax credit to include many buyers who already own homes. The Senate approved the measure Wednesday, and the White House said President Barack Obama would sign it Friday.
Now if they would only make the credit permanent and then forever ban the mortgage interest deduction.
But that will never happen, because those that are the loudest against the homebuyer credit have benefited the most from the mortgage interest deduction, which they gladly partake in, albeit quietly.
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November 5th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
you lie. The Ownership society was not about owning homes, it was about owning businesses. This post is fundamentally dishonest.
[The words of George Bush himself;
"We are here in Washington, D.C. to address problems. So I've set this goal for the country. We want 5.5 million more homeowners by 2010 -- million more minority homeowners by 2010. (Applause.) Five-and-a-half million families by 2010 will own a home. That is our goal. It is a realistic goal. But it's going to mean we're going to have to work hard to achieve the goal, all of us. And by all of us, I mean not only the federal government, but the private sector, as well."
http://www.hud.gov/news/speeches/presremarks.cfm
OL]
And how dare you campaign for the burdening of taxpayers with their neighbor’s health care costs and then manufacture your outrage abour the home mortgage deduction, merely because you did not benefit from it.
[Health care costs should be borne as close as possible to those that consume them. That does not happen in the USA because of government meddling that occurred sixty plus years ago. But in your book, its OK because the burden is paid by employers. Health care bankrupted GM and it will happen to m any others, or they will say tough luck and just cancel employee coverage. Do you know how Rush has that post at his website how the top% of Americans pay 80% of the taxes. He should do the same with health care. OL]
The mortgage deduction is not intended to encourage jumbo morts, that was a side effect of the Clinton administration mandating reckless loan activity,
And lastly, the vast majority of interest is paid in the first half of a mort, so the statement that the deduction is a subsidy over the life of the mort is false.
[Look around at all your neighbors that learned about home equity loans and cash outs. There would have been a lot fewer if there was not a tax subsidy. OL]
And one other thing. Tax deductions encourage all kinds of economic growth and job creation. A subsidy is a subsidy, a tax deduction is not a subsidy.
[IF there is going to be a subsidy it should be upfront. I am a Reagan Republican and I fully believed in such things as the investment tax credit which was upfront. OL]
You are using democrat language, like when Clinton said a reduction in the rate of growth of social security and medicare was a cut.
You are dishonest, a spoiled crybaby hack, and a lousy inaccurate and emotional poster.
Your post sucks, and so do you.
[Hey, I am one of those top percentage of Americans that pays the most in taxes because I do not engage in risky behavior like mortgage loans. If you can not afford it, you should not buy it. I am tired of paying more in taxes because others want mortgages. I am also tired as a business owner being expected to pay for others health care. BUT the GOP left small/medium size business owners waiting at the train station long long ago. They also left the military, in particular reservists, waiting at the station. OL]
November 5th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
If you were honest, you’d call for the elimination of ALL tax deductions, then, and the elimination of ALL subsidies.
It is the essence of the American dream to own property, or a business, and the government is not evil when they encourage those things.
Anything can be abused, and even if there were no mort deduction, ARMS might have resulted.
Overall, a stupid and pointless post.
November 5th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
I’m surprised someone as impulsive and prone to spew their personal piques on a blog demanding they be implemented immediately as policy made it to Col in the NG.
[How can you be "surprised" pertaining anything to achieving military rank? You do not have a clue as to that aspect of life, not a clue. OL]
[Quiz time for RWY;
How many times in the last eight years, have you said goodbye to your wife and children before getting onboard a DOD charter to SW Asia, not because you were involuntarily but because you voluntarily agreed to deploy to serve your Country?
OL]
JokeLeaf really is a good name for you. Functionally insane.
November 5th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
An Oak post where you didn’t directly praise your new hero in the White House. A rarity.
I can’t wait until Obama proposes his amnesty legislation for illegals. Given the hell you gave Bush over the issue, ought to be entertaining how you justify your messiah’s stance. I look forward to the entertainment.
November 5th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Hey, I am one of those top percentage of Americans that pays the most in taxes because I do not engage in risky behavior like mortgage loans. If you can not afford it, you should not buy it.
I don’t give a damn what you’re sick of. Leave the country, sell your business, or STFU. Oh and keep weeping for Obama, and see how that works for your bizz.
I am tired of paying more in taxes because others want mortgages.
Again, keep voting Dem, and you’ll soon be paying other’s morts, not merely their deductions.
I am also tired as a business owner being expected to pay for others health care.
So don’t pay it. Or pay it. Make your choice and STFU whining about it. Be a man. You want to relocate to Singapore, or Ireland, then again, STFU and do it.
BUT the GOP left small/medium size business owners waiting at the train station long long ago. They also left the military, in particular reservists, waiting at the station.
They did. And this is what has driven you out of your mind and put you one temper tantrum away from a padded cell.
And I know this, because you think the Dems are better. Don’t lie and deny it, you know you do.
How many times in the last eight years, have you said goodbye to your wife and children before getting onboard a DOD charter to SW Asia, not because you were involuntarily but because you voluntarily agreed to deploy to serve your Country?
Zero. I’ve never been in the USmil. And if I knew I’d end up barking at the moon like you, I’d have been glad, too. Maybe it was the polluted water or something…
There is nothing you can do about the political class, unless you’re willing to either reform it, or openly combat it. You are willing to do neither. You are trying to join the elites, and get your revenge against the world by assisting them in robbing our freedom.
That does not make you a good person.
Enough.
November 5th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
I bought a condo a while back and did not see it as risky because I liked the area and could not find any place that would rent to me and my dog, a St Bernard mix that hates kids. I am surprised how many people see a home purchase purely from an investment perspective when owning your own home is not all about dollars and cents.
With that said I think doing away with the home interest deduction might be a way to make people think about a home as a place to live not a place to save a few bux on taxes. Also, might be good to do away with the capital gains deduction on homes and stocks.
November 5th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Oak Leaf’s demeanor on this blog is either uncharacteristic, or he is not a good officer.
Men of courage and discipline do not shout encouragement to communist Presidents who dishonor the office, nor do they try to extinguish the hopes of partriots, nor do they advocate socialism, nor do they whine and cry about money and how they are so heroic they deserve more and the taxpayers should be forced to pay it.
OL does all this. His conduct reflects poorly on the business class, and especially the armed forces.
Wealthy men should bear their burdens nobly, as should officers. They should set examples for their employees, and the men under their command.
Oak Leaf does neither of these things, which is why he is either lying about all of it, or is just an further testament to the Peter principle.
Either way, he is a disgrace to the officer corp, to the armed forces in general. And yes, even to the professions. Although I have known many business owners who scream and cry and throw shit like Oak does, they are not leaders in their profession, nor are they admired or respected by their peers of employees.
They should be quiet, reserved and competent. They should not boast or lie.
Oak sucks. And his reasoning and deductive abilities are shaky as well, IMO.
As evidence: No sane conservative would embrace the leftists, no matter how much justifiable contempt they had for the GOP.
November 5th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
This is why I say that Oak is functionally insane.
November 5th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Government policy rewarding buyers and punishing renters (mortgage interest deduction, backing bad Fannie and Freddie loans, FHA, etc.) contributed significantly to the housing bubble.
Now they want to fix it with more of the same.
I’ll never vote for any politician of either party who supports this shit.
Get the government out of manipulating the housing markets, and we would return to affordable houses at 3x income with 20% down.
November 5th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Yeah, Bush and every other Beltway scumbucket was all-in for this “ownership society” and mortgage nonsense. It led to this crash, and now they’re pushing MORE of it?!
These people are complete idiots.
November 5th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Oak Leaf’s posts are at once extremely liberal and completly incoherent. President Bush’s dream of the expansion of home ownership was very Jack Kempish. For someone who claims to be a “Regan Republican” Oak Leaf should applaud Bush for persuing such a lofty goal.
November 5th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Varones, I’ll say the mort deduction has been around a long time, and people have not always abused their borrowing limits.
There have been mort deductions for 40 years, and there were not massive housing and commercial crashes throughout. Local ones, maybe but not worldwide ones.
It’s like Poli saying that the loans to the subprime buyers were not the cause of the crash.
That’s like saying the guy driving with his phone on that ran the stop sign was not at fault because he got away without getting in the 20 care pileup.
Massive artificial demand caused it. Easy money, subprime, and the tax breaks.
You keep talking like this “Tax deductions are bad because they distort the market”, pretty soon the Dems will be saying the same thing, and throwing tax cuts in there too.
November 5th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
As far as I can see there are plenty of available homes for reasonable prices around, and the banks are much tighter about lending than they were 3 years ago.
They are asking for min. 20-30% down, for their best buyers, from what I hear, for example.
November 5th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
RWY,
Check out the FHA’s 3.5% down program (which can be reduced to zero-down with realtor, seller, and/or lender kickbacks).
The zero-down loans go up to $700,000 in some areas, and they are keeping houses vastly overpriced in my neighborhood.
Add in the Federal Reserve rate manipulation where they are buying MBSs and Treasury debt to make rates artificially low to encourage speculation.
We won’t see affordable housing in my neighborhood until the Fed and/or FHA implode.
November 5th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
O.L., You shouldn’t rebut comments. If your post can’t stand on its own, don’t post it.
Your post is typically for you ignorant of the subject. I heard about people
getting their commissions out of cereal boxes.
November 5th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
right, that’s going too far.
To be perfectly consistent, yes, the mort deduction should be eliminated. But my point is we can have stable economic growth without eliminating it, and for roughly 35 years, we did.
It’s not what wrecked the economy. Zero downs are imo far more dangerous, because they encourage overbuying and casual abandonment of the property.
November 5th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Gee, I’m glad I banished myself here to see Yahoo, the guy in the Halloween suit, in all his glory. Way to go RWY.
WC Varones, IBD had a long editorial on just that subject (ie the FHA program). These morons are just gonna do it all over again. And when it hits the fan they will pass more stimulus and blame…..hmmmm, who could they blame? Capitalists!
November 5th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
The bottom line is you have to make doing business cheaper for everyone. Reagan did it and the mort deduction survived.
The clowns in charge now, are going to do nothing but drive costs up.
You know, the ones Oak wants re-elected because of the voices in his head.
November 5th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
So, please explain the tax credits. Is this basically a tax cut wherein you can deduct it from federal income taxes, or is this the government paying people to buy?
November 5th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Voices in his head, ha ha ha. You really ought to invite the bejohngalt crowd here to see this RWY. When I unbanish myself I will sing your praises.
November 5th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
No, no, none of this is necessary.
November 5th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Oak Leaf doesn’t want to own a physical piece of property that he can sleep in, but pieces of paper that say Cisco, Microsoft, and other stocks, Oak Leaf is all about those and the 10% capital gains tax I suppose too right Oak. Is your speculation on paper subsidized?
[I own three houses, all for my family, all with no debt. OL]
November 5th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Hey Oak, should we eliminate charitable deductions, since that distorts the markets and leads to people giving to charity to avoid paying tax?
Well?
Obama wants to do this. What say you?
[Donations to charity means less spending by the Government, so it is good value. OL]
November 5th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
I’ll answer that one – if Obama wants to do it Jokeleaf is fine with it.
Someone get oak some knee pads for Christmas.
[I no longer look at things through the lense of GOP=Good, Democrat=BAD. I look at things as either good for my neighbor or bad. Most of Obama's policies I disagree with. When things go good, I applaud that event. The economy recovering is GOOD for my neighbor and possibly bad for the GOP in 2010. I do not care about the politics of a rising stock market, I applaud it. There are posters here and at other sites that openly applaud market declines because it will be bad for the incumbent party. OL]
November 5th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
RWY, what is weird is Oakie doesnt respond. I remember before he went over the deep end he would engage. Of course, since liberals have nothing but emotion to go on facts are very difficult things for them to deal with.
He’ll probably get a high paying gig with ACORN soon enough.
I once referrred him to Hard Green, an excellent book that refutes all the enviro nonsense going on….he thanked me and I thought he was a pretty normal guy. The next thing I hear is that he has gone wacko.
Now remember that Hackworth guy, he was pretty normal but then he got kind of famous and found a liberal squeeze. Next thing you know he is out of his mind foolish. Maybe that is what happened to Oak. I liked Oak, I am a fellow vet….although I am a lot older. I figure there is a girl and a cool academic crowd involved. He’s probably wearing those sport coats with the leathered arms, maybe hanging out with that Colorado guy, Ward Churchill, preying on college chicks. Yeah, that must be it. Well, Oak, the wages of sin will be paid in time my friend.
[Bruce, if you are a thinking individual go ahead and list out everything that is wacko. Go ahead and look at the threads. OL]
{Let me help;
1.) Anti-abortion.
2.) Strong 2nd amendment.
3.) Support Made in USA, despise Made in China. Gladly buys USA Union Made over Chicom made.
4.) Deplores nation building under Clinton, Bush and yes Obama. I despise chickenhawk cheerleaders.
5.) Cheers a rising stock market. Cheered it under Bush, cheer it under Obama.
6.) Calls global cooling, global warming, climate change what is, a farce.
7.) Supports lowering business burdens in ALL its forms and that includes getting health care costs off the back of business. Health care bankrupted GM. Considers the consumer the biggest problem.
8.) Considers personal debt to be wrong. Identical position to Dave Ramsey.
9.) Staunchly anti-illegal migration.
10.) My position on government schools is identical to Neal Boortz.
11.) I am also an Evangelical Christian.
12.) Thankful that affirmative action is now dead because the legacy of US discrimination is over. When someone says otherwise, I say look at the President.
13.) I am a RINO!!! Yes, a registered Republican but thats as far as I now go.
So take your pick, that is what and who I am. Cut that list out and if I ever go against it, call me on the carpet!!!
Cheers, OL}
November 6th, 2009 at 6:16 am
Out comes the list AGAIN! Now that’s pitiful!
November 6th, 2009 at 6:43 am
“I look at things as either good for my neighbor or bad.”
I assume your neighbors are safely incumbent politicians and Wall Street investors, then. My neighbors and I are being crushed by this madness, which you’re cheerleading for.
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“3.) Support Made in USA, despise Made in China. Gladly buys USA Union Made over Chicom made.”
Does that include the massive increase in Federal debt you’re cheerleading for? The Chicoms are not buying our exported products with that money, they’re buying your’s and Obambi’s increased Federal debt with it.
And by the way, your “Union Made” friends at GM and Ford and Chrysler, whose bailouts you’re cheerleading for, have been FORCING suppliers to move to China, for over a decade now. Ford’s Purchasing holds seminars and bully sessions basically, to do precisely that.
Yeah, let’s borrow money from the Chicoms, give it to the Big 3 idiots and UAW, who will use it to move operations to China, and breathe life into labor agreements that should have been thrown into the dumpster, along with every idiot who negotiated them, on all sides.
And you indebt my grandchildren and steal their future livelihood to boot, to save all these idiots. Brilliant plan.
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7.) Supports lowering business burdens in ALL its forms and that includes getting health care costs off the back of business. Health care bankrupted GM. Considers the consumer the biggest problem.”
If your “business burdens” are too high, then remove your burden. Don’t put it on my back, and don’t put it on my grandchildrens’ backs. STOP STICKING YOUR HAND OUT AND BEGGING. YOU ARE A WELFARE LEECH JUST LIKE ALL THE OTHER WELFARE LEECHES.
Don’t you understand that we in the mainstream despise welfare leeches, and people who constantly have their hand stuck out begging?
This attitude you have is simply fuqqin despicable.
And health care didn’t bankrupt GM. Stupid management and a stupid UAW bankrupted GM. Don’t worry, my grandchildren have bailed them out, so you and the stupid people are all covered. I’ll let them know in 20 years that you and the stupid people brought this on, despite warnings to the contary. What do you think they’ll say, when they’re supporting your debt burden, and living in the runaway inflation you’ve created?
If you cared, truly cared, you’d be mentioning that. You’re not, and it’s telling.
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“8.) Considers personal debt to be wrong.”
But you LOVE Federal debt, and burdening my grandchildren with it. You LOVE indebting us to the Chicoms, as long as it removes your “business burdens”, and improves the only thing you care about… your next quarterly statement.
You’re right, you’re a RINO. You are the enemy of conservatives.
You value nothing but yourself, and what is yours, and to hell with what is to come, and is already here, for others.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:48 am
And if you consider the consumer the “biggest problem” in health care, then propose something that addresses that. You haven’t. You’ve proposed something that merely addresses your next quarterly statement. Like all welfare leeches, instead of addressing your problem head on, you sit there begging for somebody else to bear your burden, and pay for it… even if it’s children yet unborn who will do the paying.
Simply fuqqin despicable.
November 6th, 2009 at 7:12 am
As always, you should check the data. The data don’t lie, even though you seem to do so:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aCxnxTfqhvG8
Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) — Gold rose to a record in New York and London trading after a report showed U.S. employers cut more jobs than forecast in October, boosting demand for the metal as store of value.
Bullion is heading for a ninth consecutive annual gain and approaching $1,100 an ounce for the first time as investors seek to protect their wealth from the threat of inflation and the debasement of the U.S. currency.
But yeah, let’s pile on more debt.
I’m not a big investor type, but you might wanna consider, I don’t know, factoring-in INFLATION in the analysis of your much-treasured quarterly statements. It could… maybe… possibly… sorta… play a small role.
Nyaaah, let’s keep borrowing that Chicom cash. That’s a sure winner. Maybe we can bailout AIG and resurrect them, so they can insure the debt. I doubt the Chicoms are as stupid as you, however, even if they are just as greedy.
November 6th, 2009 at 8:02 am
even if it’s children yet unborn who will do the paying.
What, with their allowances?
Or do you mean fetuses?
You mean “future adults”, not “children yet unborn”.
Unless, of course, you are trying to be dramatic with overwriting.
November 6th, 2009 at 8:07 am
Whatever explanation works for you, troll.
November 6th, 2009 at 11:55 am
The trolls mission is to yell “Overacting!” every time the director says “Action!”…
No matter what the issue, any criticism of Ogabe is met with:
Tinfoil hat
right wing nutter
racist
sexist
bigot
homophobe
it’ll never happen (even while it’s happening)
you’re all crazy
Bush did worse.
As if these reponses, even if they were true, which they’re not, mitigate the criticism.
November 6th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
The trolls mission is to yell “Overacting!” every time the director says “Action!”…
This is a relatively tame website, if you want to see the tinfoil hat crazies in their unhinged insane natural environment, go to http://www.bejohngalt.com.
Oh, you do, never mind.
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