As this tax season draws to a close, let us remember who took away the personal interest deduction.

[Wapsie B]

I'm sure a number of people do not remember the time when we could deduct personal interest on our 1040's every year. That means signature loans, credit card interest could be taken as a deduction. Just think how valuable that deduction would be to the working-class nowadays.



Sure, Ronnie never raised taxes. :sarcasm:

[liberal N proud]

1. REPUBLICONS

[Wapsie B]

3. You betcha.

[stirlingsliver]

2. This Should Be Repealed NOW

Now that we have regained control of the Senate and House, we should petition Congress to re-instate this dedcution as soon as possible.

You are absolutely right, bushwentawol, this deduction could help LOTS of working-class people now.

[Wapsie B]

4. Yes it could help a lot of folks stirlingsilver.

It's time we helped the little guy.


Oh and where are my manners?

Belated Welcome to DU! :)

[Joanne98]

5. REPEAL IT!

[Wapsie B]

7. I agree.

It would help a lot of people.

[ThomWV]

6. Reagan! At the same time usury laws were abandoned too.

[Wapsie B]

8. Just another example of his rich legacy.

:sarcasm:

[Missy M]

9. I for one never forgot Reagan doing that....

for me, at that time, it was like a huge tax increase. I don't have any loans or credit card interest now but I know many middle class Americans are buried in it, sometimes just to survive. That deduction should be brought back.

[Nederland]

10. Why should it be deductible?

I guess (as usual) I am the lone voice of dissent.

Why should personal interest be deductible--because it would be beneficial to you? Sorry, but I believe that we should only make things deductible if they are things that we want to encourage as a society. College expenses, home ownership, etc. should be deductible because those are things we want to encourage. But interest on money borrowed largely because people want to buy more "stuff"--no.

BTW, I'm pretty sure it was a Democratically controlled House that passed this legislation.

[gratuitous]

11. Bob Packwood, and his little slips of paper

Remember Bob Packwood? If your face involuntarily contorts into a grimace at the name, then you do. In 1986, before blogs and netroots, Packwood, junior senator from Oregon, was in charge of the committee doing the tax overhaul. A couple of reporters from the Philadelphia Inquirer (one of the guys was named "Steele" as I recall) did an in-depth study of some of the more esoteric provisions in the new tax code, including the fact that quite a number of wealthy beneficiaries of estates in Texas were given their own personal tax exemption. They weren’t listed by name in the legislation, of course, the favored locution being along the lines of “beneficiaries of any will submitted to probate in Harris County, Texas between June 16, 1983 and June 17, 1983.” The Inquirer guys figured out that it referred to a specific wealthy family, and named names.

Packwood claimed that he didn’t know a lot of what went into the comprehensive tax overhaul bill because, as he put it, whenever he was on the Senate floor during the drafting of the legislation, people were putting little slips of paper into his pocket. In addition to his well-known weakness for women, apparently little slips of paper also exercised a mesmerizing effect on poor Mr. Packwood. Because a whole bunch of little tax code valentines made their way into the law, while the repeal of the personal interest deduction went the way of the dodo.

Of course, such a naked money grab was justified on the grounds that lenders would lower their interest rates in order to attract more borrowers. Yeah, and maybe rhesus monkeys will fly out of my ass next Shrove Tuesday, too.