3/30    Exact how much tax break do you get for owning a house?
        \_ Who here owns their own house and if you can afford that why can't
           you afford a CPA once a year to do your taxes?
        \_ None.  Your home mortgage interest is deductible...
        \-dont quote me but i think up to $1M of mortgage interest is
        deductable. but of course you consolidate all your other debts,
        and pay them off with an equity loan which ends up deductable.
        this number is supposed to be gradually reduced but i dont remember
        the schedule. --psb
        \Mortgage interest and state/local property taxes on a home
        are deductable.  The amount of the tax break depends upon how
        much interest you pay (in the early years of a 30 year mortgage,
        more than 90% of your payments are interest alone) and on your
        tax bracket.  If you paid $10,000 in interest over a year of
        mortgage payments and you're in the 28% bracket, your tax bill
        is reduced by $2,800.
          \_  So, extrapolating, does this mean that if you're in the 35%
              Tax bracket with a $10,000 in interest mortgage, you get
                to take a $3,500 deduction (i.e., is the formula as simple
                multiply the interest by the tax bracket)?
                \_Yes.  The $10,000 of interest is deductable and thus
                reduces your taxable income by $10,000.  Your tax bill
                is reduced by $3,500 if you are in the 35% bracket,
                $2,800 if you're in the 28% bracket, $1,500 in the 15%
                bracket, etc.  because the government exempts you from
                paying taxes on income that you used to pay mortgage
                interest. Great deal for homeowners. Bad deal for renters.
     \_ Can I deduct my mortgage for my two vacation homes?
        \_ Don't remember the exact rule, but I think you have to live in
           your "primary residence" more than half the year, and can only
           claim one such residence.
        \_ What's someone with 2 vacation homes doing posting on soda?
           shouldn't you be cowering behind your gated (firewalled)
           communities, trying to keep the proletariat rabble (d00dz)
           out of your pocketbook?