The preferential income tax treatment of owner‐occupied housing: Who really benefits?

Abstract

This article uses a model that includes an explicit measure of net implicit rental income to examine the size and distribution of the tax expenditure to owner‐occupied housing across and within homeowner income classes. The model is derived from 1989 American Housing Survey data. The analysis leads to three major conclusions. First, on net, the inclusion of net implicit income in the measure of homeowner tax savings adds a substantial amount to the estimated tax expenditure given to owner‐occupied housing. Second, the interaction of changes in the standard deduction and in the tax treatment of itemized nonhousing expenses has rendered the mortgage interest deduction worthless for many low‐ and moderate‐income households. Third, although most of the expenditure is distributed to high‐income households, the distributional effects of eliminating the expenditure to owner‐occupied housing depend on the manner in which these savings are distributed.