Change Takes Time and Commitment is a recent blog post by Minnesota Association of Realtors that talks about the importance of getting involved with local politics, especially when it come to Mortgage Interest Deduction and the deductibility of property taxes. Here is his advice:
Last session, one of the ideas that was discussed and passed in the House
of Representatives was elimination of the Mortgage Interest Deduction and the
deductibility of property taxes on your Minnesota income tax. The DFL controlled
Minnesota Senate did not pass a bill with this language and Governor Pawlenty
said he would veto the legislation if it made it to his desk.So why worry? The Governor will be moving on to other activities next
year when the largest deficit in state history will need to be filled. The House
of Representatives and Senate are both up for election this year and the future
leadership of the House is in question. Last week, NIAOP came out with an
editorial saying that before the legislature focuses on tax increases or
spending cuts they should look at tax expenditures – this means tax breaks in
legislative lingo – especially deductibility of the Mortgage Interest
Deduction!So why attend the Caucus? The caucus is not just about who should be
the next Governor, it is the area where regular citizens can let the political
parties know how they feel about issues. This would be a perfect arena to tell
all political parties to “Just Say No” to ideas eliminating the Mortgage
Interest Deduction/property taxes. By bringing the issue forward within a caucus
of your neighbors, you can heighten their attention to the issue and send a
message to both political parties that elimination of the Mortgage Interest
Deduction is not an acceptable direction to Minnesota’s homeowners.You can find out more on the caucuses at the Secretary of State’s
website: http://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page886
://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page886.
