[MCN] The Economist's take on mortgage interest subsidy:"mostly to the rich"

[Lance Olsen]

The Economist 
Democracy in America <https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica> Nov 2nd 2017

by H.C. | WASHINGTON, DC

1st 2 paragraphs [bold added] 

A DEBATE has raged this year about whether the Republican effort on taxes should be described as “tax reform”—which implies improving efficiency and fairness–or just “tax cuts”. Parts of the tax bill released, at long last, by House Republicans on November 2nd are worthy of the first title. The tax bill aggressively takes on deductions in the individual income tax code, and channels the proceeds towards across-the-board cuts in income tax.  Unfortunately, that good work is undone by expensive giveaways to the owners of firms, and unnecessary windfalls to the heirs of the rich. As a result, the bill would saddle the economy with more debt, and could end up being a drag on growth.

Start with the good stuff. Republicans want to mostly scrap the state and local deduction, an unwarranted federal subsidy for states that levy high taxes (see article). <https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21730909-scrapping-state-and-local-tax-deduction-will-be-difficult-it-good> Displaying an admirable willingness to go after even popular tax breaks, they would curtail the deduction for mortgage interest payments, which flows mostly to the rich and distorts the economy towards housing. The deduction would be limited to $500,000 of mortgage borrowing, down from $1m today

Full article
https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2017/11/bill-two-halves <https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2017/11/bill-two-halves>

***********************************************************************
"Conservationists must therefore assess both current and future distributions of species.”

Araújo and Rahbek. How does climate change affect biodiversity? Science 2006).
 
******************************************************************************************************
“Using a meta-analysis, we estimated that the distributions of species have recently shifted to higher elevations at a median rate 
of 11.0 meters per decade, and to higher latitudes at a median rate of 16.9 kilometers per decade. These rates are approximately 
two and three times faster than previously reported”

Chen et al. Rapid Range Shifts of Species Associated with High Levels of Climate Warming. Science 2011).
 
******************************************************************************************************************
“The rate of warming implies …  range shifts of up to several kilometers per year, raising the prospect of daunting challenges for ecosystems …”

Diffenbaugh and Field. Changes in Ecologically Critical Terrestrial Climate Conditions. Science. 2013
 
*****************************************************************************************************************
At a time when the world is anticipating unprecedented increases in human population growth and demands, the ability of natural ecosystems 
to deliver ecosystem services is being challenged by the largest climate-driven global redistribution of species since the Last Glacial Maximum.”

Pecl et al. Biodiversity redistribution under climate change: Impacts on ecosystems and human well-being. Science 2017


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://bigskynet.org/pipermail/missoula-community-news_bigskynet.org/attachments/20171112/d2259185/attachment-0002.html>