A mortgage-interest deduction favors wealthy rather than poor renters
Evidence
Personally, I fall on the nondeductible side for a few reasons. First, allowing a rent deduction would likely enrich only landlords, who would increase rents to take advantage of the new tax break. And given that renters are disproportionately low-income, a deduction won’t help those who simply take the standard deduction, or are already too poor to pay federal income taxes. — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 1286
Categorization
- XREF: Echoes the book’s earlier argument that the mortgage interest deduction subsidizes richer households, a tax code structure that disproportionately benefits white homeowners. — connects to: The student loan interest deduction is capped and means-tested, unlike the mortgage deduction. — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax…, 325; Mortgage interest deductibility is an anomalous subsidy for ownership over renting — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations: How Building a…, 1235; Most mortgage-interest deduction benefits flow to high-income homeowners (+2 more)
- yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: The student loan interest deduction is capped and means-tested, unlike the mortgage deduction. — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax…, 325; Mortgage interest deductibility is an anomalous subsidy for ownership over renting — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations: How Building a…, 1235; Most mortgage-interest deduction benefits flow to high-income homeowners (+2 more)