{"id":11395,"date":"2017-05-18T15:59:35","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T20:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/therealdaily.com\/?p=11395"},"modified":"2017-05-18T16:03:48","modified_gmt":"2017-05-18T21:03:48","slug":"better-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/homeownership\/better-way\/","title":{"rendered":"NAR continues the fight to protect homeownership, calling out tax reform proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Better Way<\/h2>\n

One of President Trump\u2019s many hardline campaign promises centered on extensive tax reforms that he assured us would lower the tax bills for American families. That\u2019s all well and good.<\/p>\n

Read also: NAR unveils ad campaign at Midyear, calls out MID reform<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n

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\nIn fact, there was a Republican tax reform plan in the works long before President Trump took office, informally dubbed the \u201cBetter Way for Tax Reform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not happy campers<\/h2>\n

A new study<\/a>, commissioned by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and prepared by PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) closely examined the \u201cBetter Way\u201d proposal, as well as the tax reform outline the White House released in April. The study, \u201cImpact of Tax Reform Options on Owner-Occupied Housing,\u201d found that, if comparable reforms are enacted, many middle-income homeowners may actually face tax increases, rather than the promised cuts. And NAR is not pleased.<\/p>\n

The study showed that, while most individuals would receive a tax decrease under these reforms, middle-class homeowners may get the short end of the stick.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Homeowners with adjusted gross incomes between $50,000 and $200,000 could see their tax bill go up by an average of $815.<\/p>\n

Loss of savings too<\/h2>\n

And not only will these middle class homeowners be on the hook for more taxes \u2013 they\u2019ll also lose a ton of tax savings. The study estimates that between 2018 and 2027 (in the next ten years), these tax reforms could eliminate 82 percent of the mortgage interest deduction and the real estate property tax deduction.<\/p>\n

NAR is ready to fight against this shortsighted slight of homeowners.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cTax reform and lower rates are worthy goals, but only if we can achieve them in a fiscally responsible way,\u201d said William E. Brown, president of NAR \u201cBalancing tax reform on the backs of homeowners isn\u2019t an option.\u201d<\/p>\n

The negatives keep going<\/h2>\n

As if higher taxes weren\u2019t bad enough, the study also found that a tax reform of this nature could devalue homes by an average of over 10 percent in the near future.
\nAreas with higher property taxes, and\/or state income taxes, could face an even steeper drop.<\/p>\n

Pertinent elements in the proposed tax reform plans include: lowering and consolidating marginal tax rates to just three rates; setting the top income tax rate at 33 percent; doubling the standard deduction; scrapping all personal exemptions and all itemized deductions, aside from charitable contributions and mortgage interest, and removing the alternative minimum tax.<\/p>\n

PwC estimates that about 35 million households will be claiming the mortgage interest deduction in 2018.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

75 percent of those households have incomes between $50,000 and $200,000. NAR estimates that, of those eligible, about 70 percent claim the mortgage interest deduction each year.<\/p>\n

Protecting homeownership<\/h2>\n

\u201cA tax reform proposal that hikes taxes for homeowners is a raw deal, and consumers know it,\u201d says Brown. \u201cLeaders in Washington who are driving tax reform have shown every indication that they have the best of intentions, and we\u2019re hopeful they\u2019ll consider our study as this process plays out in the months ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to note that, though NAR is aggressively against any decrease in the mortgage interest deduction, this is by no means an anti-Trump move, or an anti-reform move. This is a long-fought battle on NAR\u2019s part, and they will continue to fight specifically to protect homeownership.<\/p>\n

#MIDs<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(HOMEOWNERSHIP) NAR study finds that the Better Way Tax Reform plan is, in fact, not the better way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":337688,"featured_media":10320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[602],"tags":[1573,1234],"class_list":["post-11395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homeownership","tag-better-way-reform","tag-real-estate-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/01\/taxes.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/337688"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11395"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11399,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11395\/revisions\/11399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}