Regardless if you are for or against making changes to the Mortgage Interest Tax Deduction, lets first talk about what this tax deduction really is.
The mortgage interest deduction is a social entitlement. Like all other social entitlements, it does the following.
1. Allows the government to directly influence free markets.
2. Has a continual growth pattern, never retracts.
3. Replaces the power of the individual citizen with the power of special interest.
4. Progresses a Socialist / Progressive agenda
Point # 1:
The Mortgage Interest Deduction is a tax deduction that came into existence back in 1986 with the Tax Reform Act of 1986. The decision to create the tax deduction was done so under the belief it would encourage homeownership. As many of us learned with the recent real estate bubble bursting, it’s my belief and opinion that anytime our Government decides to artificially influence free markets in the name of “progress”, it may not actually be a good idea. Yes, I do believe Government has a role but, I do not believe it should be in the business of creating “incentives”. As we have learned, Government incentives can artificially inflate segments of our economy that can ultimately burst.
Secondly, I don’t believe America was built on an ideology of Government handouts or incentives, at least not the America I grew up in. We are a self reliant people, we are a charitable people, we are not socialist or progressives who believe in large or more Government.
Point # 2:
As we are learning from Europe, social entitlements do not retract or go away. They grow and grow and grow till, they end up eating all the money and collapse under their own financial weight. Sadly, I wish I could say America hasn’t made any of these types of entitlement mistakes however, we have with healthcare and social security.
Social security is bankrupt and we are currently paying our elderly, retired and disabled with debt. Social security is crippling this country and we are looking at posterity measures not to save social security but to keep our country from financial ruin.
The recent healthcare passage is another entitlement that is raping our children’s future. I don’t know about your household expenses but, we are going to see a 2,500.00 rise in 2011 in our health care insurance and that was directly contributed to “obamacare” in a nice little letter from our insurance provider. Even the CBO, Congressional Budget Office is warning now that cost predictions were off and healthcare has the potential to bankrupt this country.
So, to my point, how many of you can even stomach the idea of ending social security? I venture to say, none of you.
Point # 3:
Social entitlements are just that “social”. In other words, it’s a form of collectivism that removes the voice of the individual for the voice of the collective good. The problem with this is, the “collective good” is nothing more than a pipe dream. You see, we are all individuals, we are all different, we all have our own likes and dislikes and therefore, we can never have a 100% collective good. So, instead of social entitlements offering a “good” to everyone, they just end up offering a “good” to those who would be directly impacted.
For example, the Mortgage Interest Deduction doesn’t do any good for people who aren’t buying or own a home so, it doesn’t help everyone. Social security only helps the elderly, retired, disabled but, if you are a 25 years old, healthy working person, you pay into a bankrupt system that chances are, you will never use because, by the time you qualify, it will be collapsed.
Social entitlement create population segments that are segregated based on the qualification for the benefit. It’s a form of class warfare.
Point # 4:
Social entitlement moves our country away from the Republic we were created to be and moves us towards a more socialist, progressive Government where our constitution is made irrelevant and our elected officials, loose their power and the individual citizen become non-existent. This isn’t the American way.
