I recently opined that Now is the time to reform the home mortgage interest deduction. The need to reform this deduction is clear; it does nothing to boost the home ownership rate, it costs the government $70 billion a year, and it merely inflates home prices for high wage earners who count on the deduction when they consider taking on debt to purchase a house. In an era of sky-high federal budget deficits, the myriad of tax breaks given to special interests are on the chopping block. If you agree there is a need to reform the home mortgage interest [Read More...]

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, a law temporarily amended the federal tax code to allow mortgage debt on a principal home that is canceled by a lender through a loan modification, short sale or foreclosure to escape taxation as ordinary income, is set to expire on December 31. The prospect is scaring the hell out of loan owners. If this law is not extended, millions of loan owners who plan to sell over the next several years will have to claim potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxable income on the sale. The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act [Read More...]