WASHINGTON – Feb. 20, 2015 – Tax reform talk is once again heating up on Capitol Hill, with key lawmakers vowing to work together toward a simpler and fairer tax code.
The implications for homeowners – many of whom take advantage of incentives such as mortgage interest and property tax deductions – are uncertain.
From a lawmakers’ perspective, the homeowner write-offs cut a huge chunk of money from the federal budget. That makes them a frequent target for cutbacks or elimination whenever tax code reforms take center stage. The mortgage interest deduction alone cost the Treasury more than $113 billion in fiscal 2015, according to congressional Joint Committee on Taxation calculations.
For the second year in a row, the White House kicked off the tax legislative season with a budget proposal that would limit mortgage interest and other deductions for more affluent taxpayers – a proposal that is considered to have no chance of passage in a GOP-majority Congress.
However, the partisan divide in Washington might actually protect the mortgage interest deduction and other homeownership tax benefits since Democrats and Republicans are unlikely to reach a consensus on any major reform package.
Source: Miami Herald (02/11/15) Harney, Kenneth R.
© Copyright 2015 INFORMATION, INC. Bethesda, MD (301) 215-468
http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=319686
