For decades, the real estate industry has benefited from generous tax deductions that raise home values by making it cheaper for people to own property and shoulder their local taxes. Now, as the Republican tax plan makes its way through Congress, the industry is worried that the fallout will harm its business by making homeownership less valuable.
Around the country, real estate organizations are calling legislators, warning clients about their future tax bills and staging protests, all in an effort to keep homeowners as a favored class in the tax code. “We don’t consider ourselves to be Republicans or Democrats,” said Linda Jay, chief executive of the Bakersfield Association of Realtors in central California. “We are the Realtor party.”
Last week, Ms. Jay and other agents congregated in front of the local office of Representative Kevin McCarthy, the House majority leader, holding signs and chanting, “Save homeownership.”
“We know he has a tough job to do,” she said. “But we certainly are not going to shy away from letting him know what our feelings are.”
According to some economists, real estate agents have plenty to fear. The Senate version of the tax bill would eliminate the deduction for local property taxes (the House bill caps it at $10,000), and both the House and Senate bills would effectively make the mortgage-interest deduction less valuable to many homeowners. Both provisions could raise the cost of owning a home, making homeownership less attractive for at least some families — and perhaps depressing property values.
