Kill the mortgage tax deduction?

Using basic math, this will never happen.  For any home over $100,000 the owners take the deduction.  The effective cost of your mortgage goes down by your interest rate - your tax rate.  So without this, your mortgage would effectively go up 20-30% for most middle class Americans.  Therefore prices would suffer equally, in the middle of a horrible time for housing.  I just won't happen.

To be honest, charitable giving is a better target.  The benefit of giving is for the same people (who itemize deductions).  Your effective cost to give is less the higher tax bracket you are in (say you give $100 and you are in the 25% bracket...it cost you $75 to give rather than the person in the 35% bracket who paid $65).  So - assuming we have to all pay the same amount of taxes collectively - that pushes the tax burden down to people in lower tax brackets *shrug*

this is SUCH a 1%er mentality - those people who are independently wealthy that can afford to buy a house with cash in the first place.  what incentives are there to the other 99% of the population to buy a home if this is rescinded, other than resale value of the property?  why would ANYONE agree to a 30 year mortgage to buy, say, a $200,000 house that ultimately ends up costing them $600,000 because of interest on that mortgage?  no one would buy a house - it would be MUCH cheaper in the long run just to rent an apartment.  talk about Ivory Tower thinking.

Jim Wang,

     Where is the data to support , "big houses get bigger tax breaks, driving up prices for everyone."? 

 Eliminating this tax break will send the economy into a tailspin.  Don't you think that the more money spent paying mortgages, etc. means the less money to buy goods and one of the reasons the economy is taking longer to recover while the banks recovered just fine after the bailout? The banks are dragging the heels in helping homeowners while accepting cash offers for the homes (once foreclosed) of 50% of the mortgage.  Isn't this why if the mortgages were refinanced faster in these fed programs, people would have more discretionary income which would lead to higher consumer confidence and therefore more spending which would drive up demand for goods, jobs, etc. you know the cycle that drives the economy?  I know this is simplified but what is your train of thought as well as the economists?

Obviously, those who own a home understand the benefit of the mortgage interest deduction and those that are opposed to the idea probably don't own their own home.  It's a battle of the haves and have nots.  Benefit of success versus failure of complacency.