Tax law subsidizes owning over renting even though both are personal choices

Evidence

Since our modern progressive income tax system was created with the Revenue Act of 1913, the government has always subsidized homeownership by offering tax subsidies for owning, but not for renting. Why? Because rent is a nondeductible “personal, living, or family” expense. Remember in chapter 1, when we discussed how personal choices like my designer Celine bag aren’t deductible (but a personal choice like marriage is)? Well, the government will not give me a tax break if I rent an apartment in a fancy building with a doorman, but I do get a tax break if I buy an apartment in a fancy building with a doorman. The permitted deduction for mortgage interest is a huge exception to the general rule about personal choice. — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 1235