Gang of Six
While we are not sure if the Gang of Six US Senators proposal is a trial balloon or if it has Senate support, word on the street is that the plan includes reductions of home interest deductions and charitable giving. Just reported by the Atlanta Journal.
“About 35 million households claimed the mortgage interest deduction in 2009, and about 36 million households claimed deductions for charitable contributions, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the congressional scorekeeper on taxes.
The Gang of Six plan does not specify how the tax breaks would be trimmed. Democrats have several proposals that would restrict wealthy families’ use of the breaks, while preserving them for most low- and middle-income taxpayers. Such a plan would offset rate cuts for high-income families by limiting their ability to take advantage of various tax breaks.
For example, current law allows homeowners to deduct the interest they pay on home mortgages of up to $1 million. One proposal would lower the limit to $500,000 and exclude mortgage interest on second homes.”
At this point I will reserve my overall opinion of their plan. “Details.” Show us the details before asking American voters to buy in or pass. What else is in their closely guarded budget proposal? Talk about transparency in government. We hear House Members on the tube telling us that they have yet to see the proposed plan while the August 2nd artificial deadline quickly approaches. And they want both houses to cooperate for the good of the Nation. Sign off now and we’ll answer questions later. I hope not.
A minor glitch, preventing comments, has been fixed.
While we do not know the details, if in fact these trial balloons become reality, my sense is that the area of concern impacting millions of Americans and houses of worship would be caps on contributions which are their lifelines.