December 2, 2009
UC-Davis Law Professor Dennis Ventry: Mortgage Interest Deduction
Homeownership has come to be viewed as an integral part of The American Dream, and tax policy is just one way that politicians have sought to promote it. The mortgage interest deduction is the second most expensive tax subsidy, second only to the tax exclusion for employer-provided health insurance.
Dennis Ventry, a law professor at the University of California-Davis, recently authored an article on the mortgage interest deduction in the law journal Law & Contemporary Problems titled "The Accidental Deduction: A History and Critique of the Tax Subsidy for Mortgage Interest." In this week's podcast, Ventry discusses the history of the mortgage interest deduction, its problems and why - despite those problems - it still remains.
To listen to the podcast: Play the audio above or right-click on the audio file below, and select "Save Target As."
