Realtors rally to oppose Brownback's plan to eliminate homeowner tax deductions

Posted by Scott Rothschild February 13, 2013 at 10:55 a.m.

Realtors rally to oppose Brownback's plan to eliminate homeowner tax deductions

Topeka — Realtors from across the state gathered Wednesday just outside Gov. Sam Brownback's office in the Statehouse to rally in opposition to a proposal by the governor to eliminate the homeowner mortgage interest and property tax deductions.

Brownback has said removing the deductions are needed to balance the budget and ratchet down the state personal income tax in future years.

Realtors say elimination of the deductions will hurt hundreds of thousands of Kansans and send the housing market into a tailspin.

Realtors gather outside Gov. Sam Brownback's office in the Statehouse to oppose the governor's proposal to eliminate tax deductions used by homeowners. by Scott Rothschild

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Cant_have_it_both_ways 3 months, 1 week ago

Among organizations lobbying legislators, 25 spent at least $5,000 during 2012.

Top spenders: The Kansas Association of REALTORS spent $152,296 lobbying against removal of the home mortgage interest state income tax deduction and UnCork Kansas spent $72,235 lobbying for liquor sales in grocery stores. Both issues are still in play this session.

Here are the next 23 top spenders:

· Kansas Bankers Association, $26,804

· AT&T Inc. & Affiliates, $26,106

· Kansans for No Income Tax, $19,779

· ITC Great Plains, $14,152

· Kansas State Council of Firefighters, $12,018

· Kansas Chamber of Commerce, $11,796

· Cox Communications Inc., $11,035

· Kansas Credit Union Association, $10,524

· Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce, $10,484

· Kansas Contractors Association, $9,863

· Kansas Hospital Association, $9,256

· Kansas Motor Carriers Association,$8,568

· Kansas Electric Cooperatives Inc., $7,930

· Kansas Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Association, $7,820

· Kansas Municipal Utilities Inc., $7,650

· National Rifle Association of America, $7,495

· Kansas Farm Bureau, $7,006

· Kansas Livestock Association, $6,747

· Kansas Cable Telecommunications Association, $6,616

· Americans for Prosperity, $6,431

· Via Christi Health, $6,417

· Ash Grove Cement, $6,166

· Sprint, $5,245

The report on how the lobbyist spending was distributed to individual legislators during 2012—from which the Golden Fork Awards will be determined—hasn’t been completed by Ethics yet.

toe 3 months, 1 week ago

Realtors bear a lot of responsibility for the housing bubble. They chased down cheap money, encourage people to buy more than they needed, and benefited from the run up in home prices. The federal and state deductions for home interest inflates home values and hurts the low and middle income home buyers the most. I have very little use for a Realtor.

texburgh 3 months, 1 week ago

Gee, Can't, most of these are your pals. The list is almost exclusive to hard right tea party supporting ideologues and supporters of Brownback and his allies. The pay-off has been huge for most of these.

So the $152,296 question is "Which will the realtors get - removal of the repeal of the home mortgage interest and property tax deductions from Brownie's tax bill or a special bill prohibiting them from participating in 'political activities.'" Remember, that's the bill leveled at public employees who oppose Brownie's agenda. I assume you would support the same thing for the realtors, right?

Cant_have_it_both_ways 3 months, 1 week ago

I posted this because I have zero use for any lobbiests no matter why they lobby for. The sequence of events are as follows. Lobbiest feel out the law makers to their positions. Hand them an envelope with campaign contributions and some extra for them. Lobbiest write the law the way they want it...the elected officials don't write the bills. Then the bought and paid elected official rounds up his buddies he owes favors to to support the bill for future support of their bills...and BOOM we are blessed with something that only benefits the lobbiests. So NO these are NOT my pals, nor should they be yours either. Find someone else to troll....

hear_me 3 months, 1 week ago

"Brownback has said removing the deductions are needed to balance the budget and ratchet down the state personal income tax in future years."

So at the national level, the GOP does not want to close loopholes (tax increases), but at the state level, closing loopholes (raising taxes) is OK. The governor is either just learning how to balance a budget, or this was in the GOP play book last fall.

fred_mertz 3 months, 1 week ago

Not true. The GOP offered up removing tax deductions to raise revenue in the recent discussions on dealing with the automatic cuts. Obama rejected that idea.

hear_me 3 months, 1 week ago

CNN/Rubio's rebuttal: "Congress already raised tax rates on top income earners as part an agreement in January to avert the worst aspects of the so-called fiscal cliff. And now, Obama and Democrats want to eliminate some tax breaks and loopholes to further raise revenue. Republican leaders have sought to reduce the size of government and, therefore, generally oppose any increase in tax revenue."

The GOP refers to "closing loopholes" as "increase in tax revenue". So, No, the GOP does not support closing tax loopholes. The GOPs position has changed sconce last fall.

oneeye_wilbur 3 months, 1 week ago

Actually deducting mortgage interest isn't allowable for soe and a better financial benefit is to somehow have a lower mortgage interest rate.mthe eavings would be greater. Do the math.

toe 3 months, 1 week ago

Lower home prices benefits everyone. Homes should never have been sold and marketed as investments. They are first and foremost a place to keep warm and dry. Every home is artificially increased in value by the tax benefit. The best time to end this deduction is when prices are already deflated. Our entire society will benefit.

laredo 3 months, 1 week ago

A L E C and americans for prosperity should also be baned from lobbying the kansas lawmakers. Kansas lawmakers leaving the country for a secret meeting should charged by the ethics commision.

oletimer 3 months, 1 week ago

it is not going to make any difference who opposes this disaster in the making. king browny and his puppets are going to crash it through and there is not a damn thing anyone can do. browny knows this. I would just like to know what he has against Kansas. he is hell bent on bankrupting the state and everyone in it, expect his buddies. of who there are fewer each day as he screws them also. hope all the misguided souls who actually voted for this idiot are happy. nobody else is.

msezdsit 3 months, 1 week ago

Hope all these groups remember this in time for the next election.

Cant_have_it_both_ways 3 months, 1 week ago

Loosing the mortgage deduction is peanuts on your return. If you are in the 15% bracket and your mortgage interest was $2000...then the additional tax is $300.00 which is nothing. I don't know what all the crap is about. I would gladly pay this additional tax if our elected officials, city, county and state were good stewards of those dollars. This is my rub. Why should they take from me and give to some worthless SOB that does not want to work, smoke weed every day, have children they can't afford and wear out the bicycle paths on the way to the library?

All of you "Pay your fair share" types should be all about removing this deduction.

caughtinthemiddle 3 months, 1 week ago

I'm really happy that $300 is "nothing" to you.

To a family whose income has been reduced, who face higher fuel, food, and medical costs, that $300 might just be important.

It is obvious, from your current and past posts, that you do not care a whit about anyone but yourself. Really great American sentiment, there, chibw, really meaningful.

OzD 3 months, 1 week ago

Assuming a couple had $70,000 in post-standard deduction income last year, their tax bill was $3750. If their income stays the same this year, they'd pay $2998 (including the fact that the standard deduction went up by $3000 for them). If they paid $9000 in mortgage interest last year ($150,000 @ 6%, or $200,000 @4.5%), their tax bill was reduced by $580.50, meaning their total state tax bill went from $2,989.50 last year to $2,998.00 this year (assuming the mortgage deduction goes away). An increase of $8.50.

I keep hearing that everyone wants a simpler tax code. Well, for a significant number of middle-class homeowners, the tax bill is about the same, and its computation is simpler. I'm a home-owner, and the break is nice, but it's certainly not fair to my co-workers who rent to have to pay more tax than I do. Maybe instead of discouraging home ownership, it will help renters save up for a down payment (having lower rates, few deductions/exemptions). That was my challenge starting out, not whether my mortgage was getting subsidized or not.

The worse of a deal you negotiate on your mortgage, the more subsidy you get...kind of a perverse incentive.

srj 3 months, 1 week ago

I think the deduction should be gone on both federal and state levels. Money has to come from somewhere, might as well be this.

toe 3 months, 1 week ago

Yes. They both need to go.

blondejuan 3 months, 1 week ago

Are you people on this blog homeowners? All you complainers sound like a bunch of jealous renters. I don't want to give up my mortgage deduction to brownback until I see real legislation that makes our politicians spend more wisely. They spend money like a bunch of spoiled rich kids.

fearthetaliban 3 months, 1 week ago

Charles Koch told Sam to zap the deduction -- enough said

merrill 3 months, 1 week ago

So the real estate industry executives are getting duped by their choice for governor..... isn't that interesting?

He gave the local executives the SLT now it's time to pay up. He calls this an appreciation fee.

Did anyone pay any attention to Sam all of these years? This might be how he extorts money from industry ..... threatens them.

Have no fear Sam Brownback can be bought. He's been getting bought since day one of being on the tax dollar payroll. This is the real sinner.

oneeye_wilbur 3 months, 1 week ago

A lower mtg rate is more beneficial. A real estate commission should be deducted from the sales price recorded at the court house! Why? You are paying property taxes on a realtors commission, forever.

KS has some dumb people and many are in Lawrence. You buy a house for 160,000. Realtor commission is 9,600 bucks. Actual valuation is really 150,400.

Do the math.

Bike_lover 3 months ago

While the amount of savings isn't that big when you get down to the details it's a big "selling point" for real estate salespeople, aka "realtors." Then they suggest your home will appreciate in value and get the buyer hyped-up about buying a $125,000 home and paying $400-500K (with interest) for it over 30 years. They'll fight hard to keep this.

If Brownback can win against the Realtors Kansas should watch out. He'd show he had real juice.

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