Scottsdale, AZ, April 7, 2009. The American Tenants Association (ATA), the country’s only nationwide, grassroots advocate for the more than 95 million Americans who rent their homes, called on Congress to end systemic tax policy “discrimination” directed at residential renters.
Citing the U.S. Tax Code’s mortgage interest deduction available only to homeowners, the ATA appealed to the nation’s lawmakers to pass legislation allowing tenants an “equivalent” tax credit pass through. The amount of the credit would be determined annually based on the average mortgage interest deduction benefit enjoyed by homeowners. The ATA currently estimates this amount to be $1,242.
William M. Deegan, the ATA’s Executive Director, said that “discrimination against renters must end.” Noting that “the poor, young families and retirees living on fixed incomes tend to rent their homes”, Mr. Deegan said that “it’s time for renters to be heard. The days of residential tenants being asked to move to the back of the tax policy bus are over.”
Stan Dale, the ATA’s Director of Public Policy, in referring to statistics complied by the non-partisan Tax Foundation, said that IRS data show the bulk of mortgage interest deductions are claimed by a relatively small fraction of Americans with incomes above average. Mr. Dale said that the mortgage interest deduction favors higher income taxpayers because of the progressive nature of the federal income tax. He added that “the mortgage interest deduction favors the rich” who tend to have more valuable homes and real estate speculators who prefer interest only loans.
Mr. Dale noted that President George W. Bush’s Advisory Panel on Federal Income Tax Reform in 2005 criticized the home mortgage interest deduction for encouraging the construction of larger homes and not necessarily broadening home ownership among middle income Americans.
Mr. Deegan said that the group will be “calling on Congress to lend a hand to the poor, the young and struggling retirees who rent” by passing the mortgage interest equivalent tax credit. “The millions of Americans who rent their homes demand to be treated equally. Congress can take the lead by enacting a tax policy that does not treat renters as second class citizens”, he concluded.
The American Tenants Association is the voice for the country’s residential renters. Membership is free and is open to all tenants and supporters of tenants’ rights.
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