Mortgage tax proposal peeves professionals

Originators are vowing to jump political parties in the wake of the latest GOP mortgage tax controversy

Mortgage tax proposal peeves professionals
The Republican party’s about-face on a tax proposal -- which is said to strip many Americans of their ability to claim mortgage interest deductions -- is stirring up controversy among Mortgage Professionals America’s readership.

“If the Republican party goes through with dropping the tax and interest credit for homeowners it will absolutely cripple the home industry, including builders, mortgage lenders, realtors and every phase of the market that is tied to the home industry. Even congress can't be this blindly stupid,” one reader, who goes by the moniker ‘Fed up in Florida,’ wrote in the MPA forum. “I'm a 43 year mortgage professional and cannot image that my party would even consider such an asinine move. If they pass anything that impacts the benefit of home ownership I will drop out of my lifelong republican party membership.”

The comment was in response to the Republican Party’s mortgage tax proposal, which removed a popular interest rate deduction.

Readers join the National Association of Home Builders' criticism of the party's propsed tax bill.

Earlier this week, the NAHB accused House Speaker Paul Ryan of reneging on an original proposal that would have included the homeownership tax credit that would have benefited tens of millions of American households.

NAHB said it had been working with leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee on a tax incentive that would boost the middle class. As of last week, NAHB believed the proposal was a done deal.

However, it was recently told by the House leadership that the credit will be removed from the bill.

"By sharply reducing the number of taxpayers who would itemize, what's left is a tax bill that essentially eviscerates the mortgage interest deduction and strips the tax code of its most vital homeownership tax benefit,” Granger MacDonald, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder and developer from Kerrville, Texas said in a statement Monday. “This tax blueprint will harm home values, act as a tax on existing home owners and force many younger, aspiring home buyers out of the market.”

And it seems many originators agree with NAHB.

“After 40 years in the mortgage industry watching one after another Washington driven legislative fiascos that have placed many burdens on homeownership, I really never thought I'd see congress step this low on something this important or consider backtracking on a promise this important and as a lifelong Republican all I can do today is sit in disbelief,” another reader wrote. “These people don't have a clue as to what this can do to the main route to middle class wealth building.”


Related stories:
NAHB reconsiders housing tax policy
Industry group slams tax plan over mortgage deduction