Taxing America’s Future

By Lowell Ponte

The American Dream is being undermined by government policies. “The sweeping tax overhaul House Republicans introduced [November 2] would eliminate or scale back some of the biggest incentives for home-buying in federal law,” wrote Russell Berman in The Atlantic. This would, he said, cut in half the limit on deducting mortgage interest, cap property tax deductibility, repeal the tax deduction for moving expenses, and force more people to pay taxes on profits made from selling a home. 

The low-earning Millennial Generation has already postponed buying their first home, which has postponed marriages and couples starting a family, which has in turn helped spawn the lowest fertility rate in American history. Higher taxes, in other words, have unintended consequences. In this case, raising taxes on home ownership could mean far fewer children in this generation – and far fewer future workers to pay for Social Security and Medicare that are already speeding toward bankruptcy. [more...]