Freeman Comes Out for Mortgage Interest Deduction Reform

In this period of debt hysteria, the home mortgage interest deduction has come under some attention.  A subsidy previously considered untouchable is now being examined for its impact and effectiveness.  Detractors argue that it disproportionally benefits the well-off, and people would've bought homes anyway. 

The Waukesha Freeman, hardly a liberal rag, has taken a cautious stance on the issue, arguing that "... as part of a resetting of federal taxing and spending, Congress should carefully trim the deduction, keeping a meaningful break where it does the most good."

I've previously covered this question, latest entry here,  In a different one, I noted that

The president's fiscal year 2010 budget reports that, in 2012, the MID will cost the federal Treasury an estimated $131 billion, much more than the total of all outlays by the Department of Housing and Urban Development ($48 billion). Homeowners also benefit from other federal tax preferences, including deductibility of residential property taxes on owner-occupied homes ($31 billion), and exclusion of tax on the first $250,000 ($500,000 for joint returns) of capital gains on housing ($50 billion).