TAX LAW: PRACTITIONER SERIES ABSTRACTS

"The Accidental Deduction: A History and Critique of the Tax Subsidy for Mortgage Interest" Free Download
Law & Contemporary Problems, Vol. 72, 2010
UC Davis Legal Studies Research Paper No. 196

DENNIS J. VENTRY, University of California, Davis - School of Law
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This Article traces the mortgage interest deduction from accident to birthright, from one of many deductible personal interest items to one of the few left standing, and from a nominal tax offset to the second most expensive tax subsidy. It tells the story of how the mortgage interest deduction and other federal housing subsidies fueled the post-World War II surge in rates of homeownership and, more recently, how those programs contributed to the collapse of the housing and financial markets. Finally, the Article offers a eulogy to the mortgage interest deduction that draws on criticisms of the subsidy from two generations of tax reformers and tax policymakers that are more applicable today than at any time during the deduction’s nearly 100-year history.

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Advisory Board

Tax Law: Practitioner Series

C. DAVID ANDERSON
Partner, Loeb & Loeb - Los Angeles Office

MARY LOUISE FELLOWS
Everett Fraser Professor of Law, University of Minnesota School of Law

BARBARA H. FRIED
William W. and Gertrude H. Saunders Professor of Law, Stanford Law School

DANIEL I. HALPERIN
Stanley S. Surrey Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

DAVID P. HARITON
Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell

WILLIAM A. KLEIN
University of California, Los Angeles - School of Law

DEBORAH SCHENK
Marilynn and Ronald Grossman Professor of Taxation, New York University School of Law

REED SHULDINER
Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School

JEFF STRNAD
Stanford Law School