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Bloomberg: A Taxing Debate - The Mortgage-Interest Deduction

October 18, 2011

.....The results represent a significant shift from a December 2010 Bloomberg survey that asked the same question. That poll showed a majority, 51 percent, opposed to giving up tax deductions, with 41 percent in favor. Given the pressure to lower the federal deficit, "everything is on the table," says Richard K. Green, director of the University of Southern California Lusk Center for Real Estate. "People are so desperate to figure something out that they're willing to consider anything."

On a personal level, the deduction's biggest beneficiaries will feel the greatest pain if it disappears. Green, of the University of Southern California Lusk Center for Real Estate, estimates that households earning more than $160,000 would pay an average of $2,577 in additional taxes, even after benefiting from a proposed 15 percent tax credit. Places with pricy real estate would bear the brunt of a repeal. "The city of San Francisco would just get whacked," Green says.

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