“Yeah, but ironically, if they did, then by your definition, they’d be helping me to steal from you, your kids, and your grandkids, ya lousy commie. “
I’ve been called a commie for being against selling our highways to foreign companies for monopoly-protected tolling, so that name doesn’t phase me a bit. I’ve also been called a Nazi many times...you get used to it here.
As to what you’re doing...it’s the same as me. I also itemize, with a nice big mortgage deduction, along with a large property tax deduction (here in Texas), and even a large SALES TAX deduction (too bad...you have a state income tax instead).
We all do what we can to minimize what the government takes from us...and we should. But that DOES NOT make the policy RIGHT...and having the government encourage people to GO INTO DEBT is simply WRONG. That is most of the reason we had the mortgage meltdown, and that is why millions of people overpaid for their homes. There is a DIFFERENCE between opposing a policy as STUPID, but still playing by the rules.
See, that's the other assumption that you've been making that I would call into question, well, actually TWO assumptions:
1) The mortgage deduction from itemising is hardly something that "encourages millions of people to go into debt." Seriously. If you itemise, then you know very well that the money gotten back in a refund through that is less than the interest paid in each year. I certainly didn't take out a mortgage to buy a home on the basis that I'd "get to itemise my taxes." I did so because it was a sound investment strategy in the long-term - something that is still true, despite the current housing crisis. There is no reason to think that the housing market will still have the same problems it has now five, ten, or twenty years down the road.
2) The mortgage meltdown did not happen because of the simple fact that people choose to go into debt (i.e. take out a mortgage) to buy homes. The meltdown occurred because of the fact that the government pressured lenders to make extremely unwise loans to millions of extremely questionable buyers - people who under normal circumstances would not have even been considered by a bank for a loan.
That - not the mortgage interest deduction - is why we're in the mess we're in. The government was forcing banks to give half-million dollar loans to guys whose listed occupation was "mariachi singer" (seriously) and whose only proof of occupation was a picture of them in sombreros holding maracas.
Nevertheless, that is a situation that is completely different from a young couple who are financially stable, have decent jobs, have budgeted for taking on a mortgage, and then do so. When banks only lent to people like that, the system worked well. When banks were forced to make loans to people we all knew couldn't pay them back, that's when it started to break. Your mistake seems to me to be that you are lumping all mortgagees together, without differentiating between the responsible (who, to this day, have very low foreclosure and default rates) and the irresponsible (who are driving the problem).
I'm going to bed, so I will respond to any further comments tomorrow.