Max Baucus: “a Chinese proverb asks: How can one beam alone support a house? The same can be asked about the housing market. The…”

“a Chinese proverb asks: How can one beam alone support a house? The same can be asked about the housing market. The housing market includes homeowners, home buyers, and homebuilders alike. To support the entire housing market, one does best to support each of its several parts. That is why I worked with my colleague, Senator Chuck Grassley, and other members of the Finance Committee to craft the housing tax provisions in the pending substitute amendment. These provisions address the several parts of the housing market. Our legislation would help homeowners, home buyers, and homebuilders. In so doing, our legislation would provide sounder support for the market as a whole. In today's economy, many homeowners are having difficulty paying the mortgage. About 4 percent of first-mortgage debt is delinquent. Another 1 percent is in default. Last year, nearly 1.5 million homeowners defaulted on their first mortgages. That is up from 900,000 in the year before and 800,000 in the year before that. Defaults and foreclosures have contributed to the decline in housing prices. They have destroyed more than $2.5 trillion in household net worth in the space of a year. Our legislation would help homeowners with a property tax deduction available for people who do not itemize their tax deductions. This new deduction would alleviate some of the burden of local property taxes, at a time when homeowners are struggling to pay their mortgages.”