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- THE way that black holes bend light’s path through space cannot be smoothed out by human ingenuity. By contrast, a vast distortion in the world economy is wholly man-made. It is the subsidy that governments give to debt. Half the rich world’s governments allow their citizens to deduct the interest payments on mortgages from their taxable income; almost all countries allow firms to write off payments on their borrowing against taxable earnings. It sounds prosaic, but the cost—and the harm—is immense.
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I would probably be ok with a flat rate tax credit for home buying. Home buying is a great store of wealth, even if not a great investment. Encouraging citizens to have a nest egg is reasonable, given that it ultimately falls to the government to make up the shortfall for indigent seniors. However, a deduction based in the amount of interest you pay is ludacris. The more you can afford, the more money your neighbors are on the hook for. It completely regressive and illogical. I directly benefit from this, and even I would love to see it go. It's harmful to the broader economy, distorts home prices, and it perverts the lending process.