Dingell wants cap on Mortgage Interest Deduction

The Mortgage Interest Deduction in the States costs a hundred billion dollars per year, and may once have served the purpose of encouraging home ownership, but now just penalizes the poor and others who rent and is a gift to homeowners and builders, who can charge higher prices and sell bigger homes. It doesn't even really work; Canada doesn't have it yet has just as high a rate of home ownership as the USA. No politician will have the guts to get rid of it, but Rep.USA John Dingell has a great idea: Eliminate it on the portion of the house over 3,000 square feet. If you want to own a McMansion, why should the taxpayers subsidize it?

What a great idea. Continue helping people get into home ownership, encourage smaller houses, and stop subsidizing McMansions. Builders are apoplectic, but Dingell says "These are all new ideas," Dingell said. "I know I'm going to catch hell for them," but "if we are serious about global warming, we need to reduce consumption by making it more expensive." ::Desmogblog