Goodbye, My Sweet Deduction

By EDUARDO PORTER and DAVID LEONHARDT
Published: November 3, 2005

There are no cows more sacred in the tax code than the deductions for mortgage interest and property taxes. Together, they add up to at least a $75 billion annual subsidy for housing and homeowners. President Bush, in establishing his advisory panel on tax reform, specifically asked the group to preserve support for home ownership.

So it was quite a shock that the panel, which released its final report on Tuesday, concluded that it had no choice but to significantly trim the home mortgage deduction and eliminate state and local tax deductions if it wanted to find a way to simplify the income tax.