[Greenbuilding] ending mortgage tax deduction for houses >3, 000 square feet...

[arthur landerholm]

An easier way to reduce the incentive to buy larger houses is to reduce the
cap on acquisition indebtedness that qualifies for the interest deduction.
The cap is currently at $1,000,000, and, in my opinion, should be reduced to
the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac conforming loan amount.  The cap could be reduced
gradually, say, over a period of 15 years, to lessen any impact on the
housing market.  

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Green
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 11:49 PM
To: Greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org

Sacie Lambertson wrote:
> Y'all is jus dream'n.
>
> The mortgage tax deduction for a house of any size is a sacred cow in 
> Congress 
Sadly, even if the politicians were all in favour of this, it probably 
won't be passed while the current sub-prime mortgage problem carries 
on.  Foreclosures in the US are up 93% over the previous year, and the 
worries about the sub-prime mortgage problem has the world money markets 
quite jittery. Removing the mortgage deductions would force a lot more 
people into bankruptcy.

<SNIP>