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A comment on Among the Tax Bill’s Biggest Losers: High-Income, Blue State Taxpayers. Parent comment

Re:Among the Tax Bill’s Biggest Losers: High-Income, Blue St... by BeetleB on Tuesday December 05, 2017 @04:06PM (#15855982)
>Relax. You’re not subsidizing anyone. Homeowners pay a larger share than renters to begin with.

As someone who knows many landlords: Completely wrong.

They buy properties with a loan. They pay interest on that loan. The money the renter pays goes towards the interest payments. Renters are essentially buying the properties for the owners.

And landlords can keep deducting it, no matter how many properties. Homeowners can deduct only for two houses. And renters deduct none of it. The landlords literally deduct what their tenants are paying (interest, which is part of their rent).

And not sure about your other comment, but rarely do renters of similar size houses/apartments pay less than homeowners. As an example, my house I bought only a few years ago: I pay just a little more than some 3 bedroom apartments (which are much smaller than my house). Most 3 bedroom apartments in desirable areas in my city pay more in rent than my monthly payment.

And then with all the deductions I was getting, I was effectively paying less than most 2 bedroom apartments, and some single bedroom apartments. And if I take into account the amount going towards the principle, I'm paying about the same as most single bedroom apartments in my area.

I did not put in a huge down payment. Less than 20%, in fact.

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Re:Among the Tax Bill’s Biggest Losers: High-Income, Blue St... by tzs on Tuesday December 05, 2017 @07:31PM (#15857526)
Businesses generally get to deduct interest on loans used for the business, so landlords would probably be able to deduct mortgage interest under that even if there was no specific mortgage deduction in the tax code.

Accordingly, I'm not sure it makes sense to discuss landlords when discussing the mortgage interest deduction.

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Re:Among the Tax Bill’s Biggest Losers: High-Income, Blue St... by crzwdjk on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @01:35PM (#15863606)
As a point of comparison, Massachusetts does not have a mortgage interest deduction for individual homeowners, but for landlords income is computed using the federal Schedule E with only a few state-specific adjustments, so mortgage interest is still deductible. Of course landlords also pay tax on their rental income (minus expenses of course), while individual homeowners don't have to pay any tax on imputed rent.
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Re:Among the Tax Bill’s Biggest Losers: High-Income, Blue St... by hbarka on Tuesday December 05, 2017 @06:04PM (#15856949)
Uhhh, the topic was about taxes. The homeowner demographic is statistically a higher earner than the renter demographic, thus pay more taxes.
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