NAHB to Congress: Hands off housing tax breaks

The National Association of Home Builders has issued a warning to Congress not to make changes to existing housing tax incentives, for fear of dampening economic recovery

The National Association of Home Builders has issued a warning to Congress not to make changes to existing housing tax incentives.

Testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, NAHB chairman Rick Judson cautioned that changes to current tax incentives could hamper economic recovery.

"Any policy change that makes it harder to buy a home, or delays the purchase of a home until an older age, will have a significant long-term impact on household wealth accumulation and the makeup of the middle class as a whole," Judson said.

Judson warned that weakening the current mortgage interest deduction would make homeownership less successful, and was likely "to diminish the financial success of future generations".