Maryland Does Love Itself Some Mortgage Interest Deduction; North Dakota a Little Less So

Posted on by Caleb Newquist

[A] report issued by the Pew Charitable Trusts – an independent nonprofit organization and the sole beneficiary of several trusts established by heirs of Sun Oil Company founder Joseph N. Pew – determined that the percentage of tax filers deducting mortgage interest ranged from nearly 37 percent in Maryland to only 15 percent in West Virginia and North Dakota. The disparity between some of the metropolitan areas within states was even greater. For instance, in Texas the deduction rate for the Austin area was approximately four times the going rate for the Odessa area. The size of the deduction also varies significantly across the individual states. In 2010, the average deduction ranged from $4,580 per filer in Maryland to $1,192 per filer in North Dakota. The study pinpointed the national average at $2,713. [AWEB, Pew]

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Jon Kyl Has His Money on a Two-Year Extension of All Tax Cuts

Does the Arizona Senator know how to pick a long shot or what?

Americans know they are facing a large tax increase on Jan. 1 unless Congress prevents it. President Obama wants Congress to raise taxes on wealthier Americans (including many small businesses). Republicans oppose raising taxes on anyone, especially in this weak economy. Democrats ducked the issue until after the election. The result is that Congress must act in a post-election session; and while economists tell us that permanent tax policies are best, the most likely scenario in this divided Congress is a temporary extension of current rates for all Americans, probably for two years.

Politics is a tricky game. You can’t do away with all the tax cuts since that would result in hell fire raining down all across the land. And extending all the tax cuts indefinitely is a sure fire way to bring back the torches and pitchforks. It doesn’t take a Kennedy School grad to figure that one out.

But Kyl is realistic and that’s not the worst thing in the world. He simply wants to get to a point where we can reform the tax system ans that, dare we say, is a good thing.

Would we prefer him to go off on a wild-ass tangent about how the expiration of tax cuts will mean an uprising of Founding Father proportions? Of course. But we’re talking about a U.S. Senator. Everyone knows the craziest of crazies are in the House. Unless some IRS abolitionist finds his way into the upper chamber. Or a witch. That could ratchet things up a notch.

A Growth Agenda for America [WSJ]