This from the Tax Policy Blog over at the Tax Foundation website:
Once again, the United States Congress is making the tax code worse. Not that it should surprise any of the readers of this blog. Members of Congress, however stupid their policies may be, just want to appear as if they are doing something right now as it relates to housing. And if that means making the tax code more complicated and more distortionary and more discriminatory, then so be it.
The housing bill that Congress is set to pass and the President is now willing to sign is set to add a number of lines to the standard 1040, including a deduction for property taxes paid that will likely be in the adjustments section (above-the-line deduction). And then there is the new credit for homeowners that must be repaid in future years. It’s essentially an interest-free loan administered through the tax code, as if the federal government doesn’t have any entities that subsidize and administer borrowing for housing already.
