Reply #16: a few relevant facts [View All]

[onenote]

First, the mortgage deduction only is relevant if you itemize deductions...and only around 30 percent of taxpayers itemize. Moreover, while there is no formal definition of "middle class" a commmon rule of thumb is that is encompasses those with incomes between approximately 200 percent of the federal poverty threshold and those of the nation's top five percent income earners--roughly $25,000 to $100,000 a year. Finally, under current tax law, as soon as you're adjusted gross income hits $142,700, limits kick in on the amount of the deduction that you otherwise would be entitled to claim.

What these numbers suggest to me is that there are a lot of "middle class" taxpayers who don't have mortgages large enough to warrant itemizing their deductions and a change in the limit is going to be irrelevant to them. Also, that the true "middle class" isn't going around buying houses with $350,000 mortgages in big numbers. And finally, that the "upper middle class" already is getting pinched on their deductions because of the limits that kick in.

onenote