Tag Archives: Mortgage Interest Tax Deduction

The 18 members of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform voted Friday on a proposal to reduce the national deficit by $4 trillion by 2020. Their plan recommended reducing and in some cases eliminating the mortgage interest tax deduction that homeowners have been accustomed to for more than 80 years. Though the commission voted in support of the proposal with an 11-7 vote, those margins did not meet the 14-4 stipulation required to automatically send the recommendations to Congress.

In early November, co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform released a draft of a proposal that suggested significantly reducing mortgage interest tax deductions. The final proposal was released Wednesday amid much controversy. The details of the draft have been circulating for weeks, and while the proposal has received some support, there has been strong opposition to such drastic measures in such uncertain and unstable times for the housing market.

Members of the commission created by President Obama to shrink the federal deficit published a proposal this week that would significantly scale back the mortgage interest tax deduction. One recommendation would reduce the deduction amount by 20 percent. The second calls for the exclusion of second residences, home equity loans, and mortgages over $500,000. The proposal has drawn criticism from industry groups who say now is not the time to wrench incentives from a housing industry struggling to get back on its feet.