One overshadowed feature of newly proposed tax reform is the removal of deductions for mortgage loans on second homes.
Indeed, 80 percent of homes in New York's Hamilton County, home to the Adirondacks, are secondary dwellings, The Washington Post reports. In 2016, 12 percent of homes purchased were vacation homes, and homebuyers used mortgages to finance 72 percent of those purchases, according to data from the National Association of Realtors.
Beyond that, economists have noted that the benefits of the American mortgage interest deduction flow primarily to the already wealthy. In 2013, 70 percent of the total value of the deduction went to the richest 20 percent of households. The 1 percent alone gobbled up 15 percent of the deduction.
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