Lisa Kugler wrote:
>With regret, I think that experience over the past 30
>years is that sweat equity has been successful in very
>special circumstances, for a variety of reasons.
>First, the housing subsidy burden on taxpayers is -
>overwhelmingly - the homeowner mortgage interest
>deduction. This federal housing subsidy provides the
>most benefits to the most well-to-do homeowners (there
>is an upper limit) who have the most expensive homes (or two).
I disagree completely, unless you're of the opinion
that an annual salary of $33K is where "well-to-do"
homeowners' incomes start. Both my mother, a retired
homemaker living on her late husband's pension, and
myself, a lower-echelon salaryman for a local bank,
benefit greatly from being able to deduct our mortgage
interest from our Federal (and, by extension, state)
income when tax time rolls around.
By the way, a tax credit is not the same as a
subsidy. The credit allows you to keep more of your
own money. The subsidy reaches into somebody else's
pocket and gives you their money. Big difference.
>This subsidy is many many times the amount provided
>for all types of federal housing assistance
>for low and moderate income people. (Sorry I don't
>have time to look up the numbers) .
You'll have to excuse me if I don't accept you
at your word, then, especially since you don't seem
to be able to distinguish between a subsidy and a
tax credit.
>Homeownership has many positive impacts upon the
>community, but owners build equity and get
>appreciation - PLUS a big subsidy from renters
>and all taxpayers.
You make it sound like I (and my fellow
homeowners) are walking around Phillips waving
our property deeds under the noses of our poor
neighbors who rent, demanding that they fork out
their hard-earned dollars, which is just plain
silly. People buy houses for many reasons, but
reaping the huge rewards of the tax breaks
</sarcasm> isn't one of them unless they're
unable to do the simple math required to fill out
a 1040 long form. In my case, I bought a house
for my family because renting a two-bedroom apartment
in the early 1980s was a lot more expensive than buying
a house, and offered no prospect of a return on equity.
If you want to talk about subsidies, you
should take a closer look at the Property Tax Refund
program here in Minnesota. Apartment dwellers pay the
property taxes at the commercial rate through their
rents, but get the taxes rebated to them at the homestead
rate - adjusted for income, so that it is possible to
recover more than you paid in.
Kevin Trainor
Republican candidate, HD61A
East Phillips, 6-10/9-?
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