Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) wants Congress to use the tax code to punish those with houses bigger than John Dingell deems acceptable. Who is imagining an ongoing government effort to change the way people live?
Dingell would begin to phase-out the mortgage interest deduction for homes larger than 3,000 square-feet — a mirror-move to the Pease limitations on itemized deductions which Congress adopted over a decade ago. Homes above 4,200 square feet would get no deduction.
If you want to completely dump the mortgage interest deduction and lower the marginal income tax rate across the board — a much flatter tax — great, that might make sense. But there is no way you keep the deduction for some homes and not for others based on square footage.
That is using the tax code to micromanage society — an absolute no-no. But Dingell does not care. He is a straight-up socialist who would nationalize industries and explode marginal tax rates if given the chance. And it is not a mistake that an economic basket-case like Michigan has sent him to Congress for three decades.