A bipartisan fiscal commission is recommending that the mortgage interest rate deduction should be taken away from second homes and mortgages over $500,000.
Michael Berman, chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association voiced concern over the plan:
“Given the fragile state of the nation’s housing market, now is not the time to be scaling back incentives for homeownership,” he said today in a statement. “The mortgage interest deduction is one of the pillars of our national housing policy, and limiting its use will have negative repercussions for consumers and home values up and down the housing chain.”
While Berman expressed concern about the effects of the policy on the housing market, Ryan Ellis, tax policy director with Americans for Tax Reform, said the proposal would lead to a tax increase.
