The Blueprint asserts that continuing to allow a deduction for net interest expense in addition to providing a full deduction for an initial outlay would be distortive and result in a tax subsidy for debt-financing.
If you do continue to itemize deductions, the deduction from medical expenses remains 7.5percentt of adjusted gross income until 2017, when the deduction amount increases to 10percentt matching the younger taxpayers.
The president would also allow companies to continue taking a full deduction for certain kinds of property purchases immediately, rather than having to amortize the expense over many years.
Dick Baker Auburn, Calif., Dec. 16 * To the Editor: With a sigh of resignation, I agree with Robert J. Shiller about the need to continue the charitable deduction.
Over the years various tax reformers have tried to tweak the system by raising the personal exemption or continuing the deduction for mortgage interest and charitable contributions.
Would they be allowed to continue having depreciation deductions?
On the contrary, military retirees and their spouses continue to pay deductions, co-payments and premiums for military health care.
You can continue to take deductions for the mortgage interest while using the new cash to buy the muni shares.
After all, if the flat tax has already been modified to protect those earning under $35,000 while continuing the mortgage deduction on behalf of those who make mortgage payments, who is to say that other special interests won't be allowed to also cause perversions to a pure flat tax as time goes on?
Mr. Gephardt said the House conferees would strive for continued I.R.A. deductions "targeted to the middle class," but other lawmakers questioned whether that was practicable.
Most Americans will still get their insurance from their employers, who will continue to receive a tax deduction for the cost of that care.
