Posted on 08/30/2007 8:01:29 AM PDT by zendari
To add to the mortgage meltdown miseries, the credit panic, the plunging home sales and the rising foreclosures, here's a new worry: a proposed cutoff of mortgage-interest tax deductions for houses with more than 3,000 square feet.
One of Capitol Hill's most experienced and most powerful legislators is drafting a "carbon tax" bill that would do precisely that. The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), expects to introduce comprehensive climate-change legislation when Congress returns next month.
Besides imposing hefty new federal taxes on gasoline, the forthcoming bill would, in Dingell's words, seek to "remove the mortgage interest deduction on McMansions -- homes over 3,000 square feet." Dingell said he recognizes that such a proposal will spark much criticism, but he also said it is essential to reducing carbon emissions by 60 percent to 80 percent by 2050.
"In order to address the issue of climate change, we must address the issue of consumption," Dingell said in talking points prepared for town-hall discussions of the legislation. "We do that by making consumption more expensive."
Houses, like autos, are contributors to greenhouse-gas emissions. This is through heating, cooling, electrical usage and building materials, plus the highways and roads needed to make far-flung subdivisions accessible to buyers. Home builders insist that they have "gone green" in recent years and that houses constructed within the past decade are the tightest, most energy-efficient in history.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
These people are idiots.
Funny that the compost would give this kookie idea space, but of course they are biased toward leftwing kooks.
Anyone need any more proof that the current tax system is designed to control your life?
You may be sure that any time the Marxist Left (Democrat Party, MSM) invents or adopts a demeaning term for some category of private property, it intends to tax or ban said category of private property.
Investors turn away from high risk investments and it is a "credit panic".
Better to build a 2999 sq. ft. brand new house and get the tax deduction than buy a 3001 sq. ft. 40 year old home and lose the tax deduction. That helps the planet.
The world has gone crazy.
I was wondering whent the greenies were going to move from SUVs and take on the McMansions.
Yes. They know how to try to kill an industry when it is already down.
Got to end this Global Warming crap NOW. These Lefties are using it as the basis for all sorts of absolute nonsense, which is WHY they are pushing it in the first place.
Why not? According to the Marxist Left, you're probably rich. Just ask X42. A mansion would be a perfect place to keep your arsenal of assault weapons and cop-killer bullets, and to park your gas-guzzling SUV.
I understand there’s a specific exemption in the bill for houses between 27,000 and 29,000 square feet.
They already have. It is called AMT.
Would this Bill be called the Dingle - No wood Bill?
So there’s something more moral about a 2,999 sq. ft. house than a 3,000 sq. ft. house.
Who needs religion when we have government to decide such pressing moral matters? /sarc
Another thought based on the article’s exclamation “One of Capitol Hill’s most experienced and most powerful legislators is drafting a “carbon tax” bill”.
Doesn’t that just intimidate the “H” outta ya? /s
This will never fly.
Even if the concept had merit, which it doesn’t, the technical issues with implementing it are intractable.
For example: why 3,000 square feet and not 2,500 or 5,000? How can you take away the exemption completely for a 3,000 sq ft house, but a 2,999 square foot house gets the full exemption? SO we need to phase it out, but over what range? Yadda yadda yadda...
This isn’t for real. This is Dingell-berry taking a swipe back at those who are taking swipes at “his” industry, namely, automakers.
So, without the “H”, you get “Capitol Ill”?
Makes perfect sense!
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