DoobieBrotherhood t1_it9fnuc wrote on October 21, 2022 at 10:17 PM

Reply to comment by hacksoncode in Many countries have a "hidden welfare state" for incumbent homeowners, as governments subsidize homeowners through the tax system. The homeownership welfare state is strongest in the US and other Anglophone countries, but weakest in the Scandinavian countries. by smurfyjenkins

You seem insistent on comparing apples and oranges when the original distinction was very clearly and obviously apples for apples.

I’m happy to discuss more nebulous concepts for subsidies after we put the nail in the coffin of this one. Homeowners and renters are equivalent other than the method they use to pay for housing.

hacksoncode t1_it9g8sb wrote on October 21, 2022 at 10:22 PM

> Homeowners and renters are equivalent other than the method they use to pay for housing.

Sort of similar, yes, but you have to admit that renters will pay less rent in an environment where the lessor can deduct their business expenses than when they can't... all else being equal.

So is that savings due to the business deduction a subsidy to them or not?

DoobieBrotherhood t1_it9hs0s wrote on October 21, 2022 at 10:34 PM

The building of the home, marketing of the home, selling of the home — hell, every expense of every business that touches the home is tax deductible.

The deductibility of business expenses is not a subsidy, although that is a point worth arguing in a different conversation (it involves looking at whether we should encourage or discourage vertical integration and mergers in general).

This is just about homeowners versus renters. They are equivalent. If you walk down any residential street, some residents are owners and some are renters. They receive the same product just with a different method. And they do not receive the same tax benefits.

We are subsidizing the ones who have more capital and not subsidizing the ones with less capital. The effect of the subsidy is to increase the annual income of the wealthier families to the detriment of the less wealthy families (in general).