[From the class of 09]

A presidential commission’s leaders proposed a $3.8 trillion deficit-cutting plan that would cut Social Security and Medicare, reduce income-tax rates and eliminate tax breaks including the mortgage-interest deduction.

The co-chairmen of the panel appointed by President Barack Obama suggested reducing Social Security spending by raising the retirement age to 68 in about 2050 and 69 in about 2075. The plan also would slow the rate at which benefits grow. The savings would come between 2012 and 2020.

“This country’s out of money and we better start thinking,” said co-chairman Erskine Bowles. Without “tough choices,” he said, “we’re on the most predictable path toward an economic crisis that I can imagine.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-1 ... icare.html

[LUconn]

and eliminate tax breaks including the mortgage-interest deduction.

So basically I will never be able to sell my house.

[From the class of 09]

and eliminate tax breaks including the mortgage-interest deduction.

So basically I will never be able to sell my house.

yeah that's the plan I'm sure no one will ever buy a house with being able to write off the interest

[Kolzilla41]

So basically I will never be able to sell my house.

yeah that's the plan I'm sure no one will ever buy a house with being able to write off the interest

That is basically one of the biggest draws for owning a house. If you don't think that will kill the housing market, see expiration of first time buyer tax credit.

[ATrain]

Flamerbob speaks the truth. The $8,000 is one of the big reasons why I decided to buy instead of continuing to rent.

[ATrain]

And, for the record, let me just state that our country could not afford to pay myself and the other first-time homeowners $8,000. However, one of the first lessons in life that I learned was that you don't reject presents.

[prototype]

So basically I will never be able to sell my house.

yeah that's the plan I'm sure no one will ever buy a house with being able to write off the interest

That is basically one of the biggest draws for owning a house. If you don't think that will kill the housing market, see expiration of first time buyer tax credit.

Not sure if you were joking with the eye-roll smiley - It is a BIG reason people buy versus rent. This would be a very dumb move - but hey, it's Obama - would not surprise me.

[From the class of 09]

So basically I will never be able to sell my house.

yeah that's the plan I'm sure no one will ever buy a house with being able to write off the interest

That is basically one of the biggest draws for owning a house. If you don't think that will kill the housing market, see expiration of first time buyer tax credit.

Like I said no one will ever want to buy a house again Stop thinking in the short term for two seconds and think about the long term. Houseing prices might drop or remain flat for another couple of years (if you're looking to make money on a house in that period then dumb) but in the long term people still got to live somewhere and we can't all rent.

What is good for the country? To countinue to prop up a housing market with rebates, write-offs, and other incentives at the same time financing all of this with government debt that we have no ability to pay back? When you have the people of a country who spend beyond their means it results in the crash we experiencecd the last 3 years. What happens when the same peoples country's debt reaches that point?

I understand that the solutions to our countries current problems could hurt. But fixing the problems today is much preferred to adding to the problem and hoping it isn't our generation that has to pay the bill.

[prototype]

You're looking at this the wrong way... It is a HUGE advantage over renting and you are in the minority of people who doesn't care about this break...

The house tax credit is not the issue - it's the fact that there are so many people that don't pay taxes at all... Two words - FAIR TAX...

[From the class of 09]

You're looking at this the wrong way... It is a HUGE advantage over renting and you are in the minority of people who doesn't care about this break...

The house tax credit is not the issue - it's the fact that there are so many people that don't pay taxes at all... Two words - FAIR TAX...

I care about this tax break... for me personally it is a great advantage. But it isn't in the best interest of our country in the long term to continue to finance this tax break (or any) when we can't pay our bills.

Again I'd be all for a flat or fair tax (what I'm arguing for here is a flat tax). I just don't see why the government should encourage or discourage you to buy anything. When they do so they are creating an artifical market or a bubble and as we've seen bubbles pop.

[Kolzilla41]

You're looking at this the wrong way... It is a HUGE advantage over renting and you are in the minority of people who doesn't care about this break...

The house tax credit is not the issue - it's the fact that there are so many people that don't pay taxes at all... Two words - FAIR TAX...

I care about this tax break... for me personally it is a great advantage. But it isn't in the best interest of our country in the long term to continue to finance this tax break (or any) when we can't pay our bills.

Again I'd be all for a flat or fair tax (what I'm arguing for here is a flat tax). I just don't see why the government should encourage or discourage you to buy anything. When they do so they are creating an artifical market or a bubble and as we've seen bubbles pop.

Then using your logic, they should get rid of the child tax credit too because we don't want them encouraging children. I agree with your premise for the first time home buyer credit(which I took advantage of) but to say that it is hurting the government to allow mortgage interest as a write off, I disagree. Certain tax breaks have been shown to be good for the economy.

[RubberMallet]

you shouldn't be able to vote if you take get a first time homebuyers tax credit or write off your mortgage interest.

[ATrain]

I don't think anyone can argue that our country's budget woes can be solved without some type of tax increase, however we shouldn't eliminate tax breaks that are successful and shouldn't increase the gas tax.

My solution:
1. CUT SPENDING!!! We can beging by eliminating earmarks and not buying full body scanners for airports.
2. Audit and consolidate government agencies to avoid repetition and duplication of services and increase efficiency (that is, if politicians can stop putting in red tape that hinders government employees for moving at a faster rate).
3. NO RAISES FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES!!! State and local government employees (along with private sectory employees) across the nation have been subjected to pay freezes, pay cuts, reductions in benefits, layoffs, etc...federal employees should be to.
4. BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT WITH LINE ITEM VETO. For those that don't remember, a Republican Congress gave President Clinton the Line-Item Veto (which state governors have and use to balance state budgets), but the Supreme Court took it away declaring it "Unconstitutional."
5. Institute a national lottery. It works for the states.
6. Less things that people can write off. I.e. one director of Social Services wrote off his newspaper subscription b/c he had to read the obituaries to find out if any Welfare/food stamp recipient had died. I'm planning on writing off the $32/month I pay for parking in downtown Roanoke. Stuff like that should not be allowed to be written off. I'm definitely in favor of allowing things like mortgage interest and donations to charities to be written. Paying mortgage interest means you own a house so you're contributing to the local government through real estate taxes for education and public safety, which means the federal government doesn't have to pay for it. Donations to charity enable charities to provide services to people who need them, reducing the demand for government services.
7. REFORM SOCIAL SECURITY. People are living longer, therefore the eligibility for benefits should become later. 70 is a great age.

[LUconn]

It's not even about the tax breaks as much as it is as the indirect effects of getting rid of them. With one signature, you're instantly reducing the number of buyers considerably thereby making every house in America less valuable. No, I'm not too thrilled about the potential of losing a considerable amount of equity that I have built up in my house. Add on top homeowners who don't have ANY equity in their home and they now have an upside down mortgage. You thought the foreclosures this past year were bad, there would be people abandoning their properties like crazy. If it's gonna be done, you have to wait for RE to stabilize, put a cap on it, something to soften the blow of what would be a financial disaster to every home owner in the country (which as a result of the tax break is a lot of people).

[From the class of 09]

Then using your logic, they should get rid of the child tax credit too because we don't want them encouraging children. I agree with your premise for the first time home buyer credit(which I took advantage of) but to say that it is hurting the government to allow mortgage interest as a write off, I disagree. Certain tax breaks have been shown to be good for the economy.

I agree if you're having a kid because the government rebates you 1k a year I don't want you to have kids. As a principal I don't think anyone should get paid to have a kid. I'm all for having a family but I don't know why anyone should pay me to have kids.

[prototype]

I don't think anyone can argue that our country's budget woes can be solved without some type of tax increase, however we shouldn't eliminate tax breaks that are successful and shouldn't increase the gas tax.

My solution:
1. CUT SPENDING!!! We can beging by eliminating earmarks and not buying full body scanners for airports.
2. Audit and consolidate government agencies to avoid repetition and duplication of services and increase efficiency (that is, if politicians can stop putting in red tape that hinders government employees for moving at a faster rate).
3. NO RAISES FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES!!! State and local government employees (along with private sectory employees) across the nation have been subjected to pay freezes, pay cuts, reductions in benefits, layoffs, etc...federal employees should be to.
4. BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT WITH LINE ITEM VETO. For those that don't remember, a Republican Congress gave President Clinton the Line-Item Veto (which state governors have and use to balance state budgets), but the Supreme Court took it away declaring it "Unconstitutional."
5. Institute a national lottery. It works for the states.
6. Less things that people can write off. I.e. one director of Social Services wrote off his newspaper subscription b/c he had to read the obituaries to find out if any Welfare/food stamp recipient had died. I'm planning on writing off the $32/month I pay for parking in downtown Roanoke. Stuff like that should not be allowed to be written off. I'm definitely in favor of allowing things like mortgage interest and donations to charities to be written. Paying mortgage interest means you own a house so you're contributing to the local government through real estate taxes for education and public safety, which means the federal government doesn't have to pay for it. Donations to charity enable charities to provide services to people who need them, reducing the demand for government services.
7. REFORM SOCIAL SECURITY. People are living longer, therefore the eligibility for benefits should become later. 70 is a great age.

+1

Mortgage Credit works - so many other things don't... Like the National Lottery idea - that would generate a lot of money.

[LUconn]

That's just another tax, on the mathematically retarded.

[From the class of 09]

I don't think anyone can argue that our country's budget woes can be solved without some type of tax increase, however we shouldn't eliminate tax breaks that are successful and shouldn't increase the gas tax.

I guess I still have the problem with the housing tax breaks because I argue at what level have they been successful? They've been successful at raising home prices. However other than the one time 8k tax credit the only benefit (tax wise) to buying a house is because you can write off the interest. How is this good policy? It encourages you to take out long term loans with minimum down payment. The longer the term and the smaller the down payment actually help increase the amount of interest you pay on the house (especially in the early years). So in practice the government isn't encouraging home purchases (although this is a consequence) it is encourage people to take out long term loans with minimal down payment.

I'm sure that home prices would be hurt in the short term by getting ride of the interest deduction. However imagine what will happen to home prices if/when the US debt is in danger of going into default (or when it actually happens). At somepoint you have to pay the bill and while the US is special in that it is in a position where it can refinance itself, to assume that this will be the case indefinetly is very short-sighted.

That's why for the long-term getting rid of (or even phasing out) the different tax credits would be beneficial for the country even though it would initially hurt.

Also I like your list...I still am just not convinced that the government should give anyone a discount or reward based on how they spend there money.

[JDUB]

I don't think anyone can argue that our country's budget woes can be solved without some type of tax increase, however we shouldn't eliminate tax breaks that are successful and shouldn't increase the gas tax.

I guess I still have the problem with the housing tax breaks because I argue at what level have they been successful? They've been successful at raising home prices. However other than the one time 8k tax credit the only benefit (tax wise) to buying a house is because you can write off the interest. How is this good policy? It encourages you to take out long term loans with minimum down payment. The longer the term and the smaller the down payment actually help increase the amount of interest you pay on the house (especially in the early years). So in practice the government isn't encouraging home purchases (although this is a consequence) it is encourage people to take out long term loans with minimal down payment.

I'm sure that home prices would be hurt in the short term by getting ride of the interest deduction. However imagine what will happen to home prices if/when the US debt is in danger of going into default (or when it actually happens). At somepoint you have to pay the bill and while the US is special in that it is in a position where it can refinance itself, to assume that this will be the case indefinetly is very short-sighted.

That's why for the long-term getting rid of (or even phasing out) the different tax credits would be beneficial for the country even though it would initially hurt.

Also I like your list...I still am just not convinced that the government should give anyone a discount or reward based on how they spend there money.

did you vote for Obama

[From the class of 09]

did you vote for Obama

No