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Taxation and Housing: Old Questions, New Answers

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  • James M. Poterba
Abstract
This paper sketches how the tax reforms of the 1980s affected the incentives and distortions associated with tax policy toward housing markets. There are three principal conclusions. (1) Reductions in marginal tax rates, particularly for high-income households, reduced the tax-induced distortion in the user cost of owner-occupied housing. This lowered the deadweight losses associated with the favorable tax treatment of homeownership. (2) The increase in the standard deduction in the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA86) removed several million middle-income homeowners who previously itemized from the ranks of itemizers. For these households TRA86 raised the marginal cost of owner-occupied housing. These changes also exacerbated the regressive nature of the mortgage interest subsidy. In 1988, more than half of the tax losses associated with mortgage interest deductions accrued to the 8% of taxpayers with the highest economic incomes. (3) TRA86 reduced incentives for rental housing investment, contributing to the decline in new multifamily housing starts from 500,000 per year in 1985 to less than 150,000 in 1991. In the long-run these policies will lead to higher rents.

Suggested Citation

  • James M. Poterba, 1992. "Taxation and Housing: Old Questions, New Answers," NBER Working Papers 3963, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:3963
    Note: PE
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    1. James R. Follain & Patric H. Hendershott & David C. Ling, 1987. "Understanding the Real Estate Provisions of Tax Reform: Motivation and Impact," NBER Working Papers 2289, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Follain, James R. & Ling, David C., 1991. "The Federal Tax Subsidy to Housing and the Reduced Value of the Mortgage Interest Deduction," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 44(2), pages 147-168, June.
    3. James M. Poterba, 1984. "Tax Subsidies to Owner-Occupied Housing: An Asset-Market Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 99(4), pages 729-752.
    4. Follain, James R. & Ling, David C., 1991. "The Federal Tax Subsidy to Housing and the Reduced Value of the Mortgage Interest Deduction," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 44(2), pages 147-68, June.
    5. Berkovec, James & Fullerton, Don, 1992. "A General Equilibrium Model of Housing, Taxes, and Portfolio Choice," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(2), pages 390-429, April.
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