trogdor! Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Fairfax Citizen Wrote:
>
> > "There's no way you can justify this for guys
> like
> > me,..." -Gary H. Baise
>
> We do need to end that sort of crap.
>
> It is also true, however, that you would have to
> be a fool to leave that money on the table. How
> many wealthy people deduct their mortgage interest
> from their taxes? That is exactly the same
> situation. No homeowner in their right mind would
> fail to deduct that even if they were
> multi-millionaires. Yet most people see this
> deduction as an 'entitlement'. The truth is,
> mortgage interest deduction is welfare for the
> wealthy, just like this farm subsidy. Mortgage
> deduction will be a $100 billion pay out by 2009!
>
http://slate.com/id/2116731/.
>
> If people were really concerned about subsidies,
> they'd attack this deduction. But oh, wait, we
> want that one because it benefits us. Isn't that
> always the case?
>
> The most recent IRS data show few low- and
> middle-income taxpayers benefit from the home
> mortgage interest deduction. Those who filed tax
> returns with under $30,000 in adjusted gross
> income (AGI) in 2003 received just 9 percent of
> deductions for home mortgage interest, despite
> filing 52 percent of all tax returns. (The median
> taxpayer’s AGI was approximately $29,000 in 2003.)
> In contrast, 36 percent of home mortgage interest
> deductions were claimed by taxpayers with AGIs
> over $100,000.
>
>
http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/1341.html
Not always. My grandfather never applied for his (or my grandmother's) social security benefits...and they both lived into their early 90's (Uncle Sam saved a bundle!).
He reasoned that he didn't need the money, so he should leave for the old folks that did.
That kind of character and integrity is as extinct as the Do-Do bird nowadays.