Renters get absolutely screwed. Not only is there a mortgage interest deduction, I live in an area that has a special tax on rent. So not only do we pay property tax through the landlord (and probably a higher property tax for non-primary residences), we get a sales tax on top of that, being a tax on the tax.
Either end the mortgage interest deduction or allow rent to be deducted (at least in part).
If the tax were dropped, the short term effect is people would spend the saved money on something else. And in the long term they'd find rental that ends up in the same ballpark price per month - so they'd end up not saving anything and the various governments wouldn't collect taxes. So the tax would have to come somewhere else.
Either end the mortgage interest deduction or allow rent to be deducted (at least in part).