Does the Tax Code Favor Homeowners?

An essay in newgeography.com takes on the conventional wisdom that homeowners reap huge tax benefits while renters receive none.

Tom Rubin, a veteran of government transit authorities and a surface transportation consultant, rebuts a blog by Devon Marisa Zuegel on Medium.com that contended the tax code promotes suburban sprawl. Rubin countered that landlords, like homeowners, can deduct mortgage interest and property taxes as well as depreciation on the capital cost of the property and valid business expenses.

What is even more important is that many renters pay little, if anything, in Federal and state income taxes and, even for those that do, many do not itemize, and/or are in low tax brackets, and would receive little, if any, benefit from tax deductions on their own returns. In contrast, if their high-tax rate landlord gets major benefits from such deductions, the renters get a major share of these benefits passed on to them through lowered rents.

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