Senate Housing Legislation Highly Disappointing: Three-Fifths of Cost of Senate Bill Goes For Tax Cuts That Will Do Little or Nothing to Address the Foreclosure Crisis

Publication Date: April 2008

Publisher: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Aviva Aron-Dine; Barbara Sard; Chad Stone

Research Area: Economics; Social conditions

Keywords: Economic projections; Tax code; Economic inequality; Housing preservation

Type: Report

Abstract:

On April 10, the Senate passed legislation that its supporters say will help struggling families hold on to their homes and assist the communities hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis.  Measures that would help achieve these goals, however, account for less than one-fourth of the bill's cost.  The remainder of the cost comes from an array of tax-cut provisions that either are unrelated to housing or are related but would do little or nothing to aid either homeowners at risk of foreclosure or hard-hit communities.