
How Homeownership Became the Engine of American Inequality - Kaedon
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/09/magazine/how-homeownership-became-the-engine-of-american-inequality.html?action=click&contentCollection=Sports&module=Trending&version=Full&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article
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jrmurad
I suppose I should expect this from the NYT but they really managed to spin
this one.

They bemoan that "the rich" "save" money from the deduction. Isn't it relevant
that in order to get a significant discount on taxes, they'd have to be taxed
a much larger amount too?

Furthermore, an home-owning couple doesn't realize a single dollar of benefit
until after the first $12,600 because of the standard deduction. A renting
couple gets all $12,600 for free PLUS they benefit from lower rent because
their landlord can deduct not only their own interest and property taxes but
other expenses which an occupying homeowner could not (association fees,
repairs, etc).

I took NYT's examples and plugged them into the tax calculator to see how much
they are paying, including the itemized deductions for the wealthier family:

Asare: $7680 per month plus property taxes (assuming 1.5% in Massachusetts,
that's another $831 monthly): [https://smartasset.com/taxes/income-
taxes#CUgaT4sugl](https://smartasset.com/taxes/income-taxes#CUgaT4sugl)

Diaz: $357 per month: [https://smartasset.com/taxes/income-
taxes#XkDyAkz2OK](https://smartasset.com/taxes/income-taxes#XkDyAkz2OK) [also
note the $0 in federal income taxes which the NYT article is focused on,
rather than State policy]

Unless one supposes Asare's family is using 20+ times more shared resources
than Diaz's, one could come up with a different notion of who the
beneficiaries of tax policy may be.

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et-al
[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=How%20Homeownership%20Became%2...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=How%20Homeownership%20Became%20the%20Engine%20of%20American%20Inequality&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix&page=0)

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Neliquat
Nyt has really been spammed here as of late.

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et-al
I don't mind the abundance of NYT articles as much as submitters not taking
the effort to see if an existing discussion has been occurring.

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Kaedon
My apologies. I've taken it for granted that if I submit a duplicate link,
I'll be redirected the already-existing HN post. I'll be more careful.

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et-al
Thank you.

I do wish HN would implement a quick link-checker to help minimise these
mistakes.

