redblack
skeeter: that’s a lot of assumptions in your scenario. if life were as rosy in the united states of america as they are in the skeeter states of america, we probably wouldn’t need that deduction.
in the u.s it’s more like this:
one family owns 5 homes, some of which are rented to the renters.
one family owns one home and has one kid.
one family owns one home and has four kids.
one family owns one home and has no kids. (or has a single parent.)
five families rent homes. two or three of these are single parents.
one family has no home.
they all pay different tax rates.
and that’s the point of our tax code. not all money, income, or wealth is created equally. and we have a broad spectrum of incomes and a low GINI index – which might be the understatement of the century.
cap the mortgage interest deduction at a level that benefits the middle class and encourages home ownership, but is not available to people with five homes.