MyGovCost News & Blog

Patricia Dennison says:

We are sick of Congress sticking it to the people. Cut the wars, defense, find some fat in the budget.

Babye to you in November!

joe4liberty says:

But let’s not loose sight of the fact that the mortgage deduction is really a subsidized interest reduction (welfare) for the middle class. It would be much better to end all such subsidies, and replace them with lower initial tax rates, leaving more currency in the market place. Maintaining a mortgage in an effort to get tax reductions is counter to a Free-Market, just as subsidizing child-birth through tax deductions/credits, and incentivizing such behavior is counterintuitive to a government trying to reverse a debt cycle. The debt holder should bear the cost of such debts, not the community at large via special tax breaks. These games – at all levels – are what got us into this mess, only ending them will get us out (well that, and actually reinstating actual “money” in this country).
With that said, there was a point left out of this report; the cost to the poor. A higher percentage of poor rent rather vs. own, than any other economic class. Most landlords will fit the bill that Obama is targeting ($250k +). As such, without this subsidy to the wealthier land-lords, the rents will go up for the poor (all costs are borne by the consumer, NOT the entity providing the goods/services). The “tax the rich” mentality always hurts the people who purchase the goods/services that the rich provide. As such, we tax the rich, the rich raise the consumer prices, the poor can no longer afford these consumer prices, the government subsidizes the poor, the government cannot afford such subsidies so it borrows, the debt ceiling raises, and we as a nation go deeper and deeper into debt, our children grow up and elect politicians that will “give” them what they want, and the cycle continues… fun game, no? Again, the answer is to lower taxes across the board, rather than specialized tax breaks, this puts more cash into the market at all levels, and reduces the government’s role in the economy.
This would appear to be an argument for a flat-tax, and on the surface it is, but a better argument would be to return the government to its constitutional limits, which would in and of itself eliminate all of the tax breaks, and excessive spending. In other words – the boys in Washington follow the law just as we citizens are required to. BUT the Constitution has no teeth, there are no penalties for politicians who break the law and violate their oath of office (treason), so my point is moot. Nothing to see here, ignore the man behind the curtain.

Still Tired says:

Celestino— you “can’t” claim the mortgage interest deduction because your standard deduction amount is LARGER than your itemized amount. If you took the itemized amount (which you allowed to do) you would actually pay more taxes.