the agenda through. we talk about another effort to repeal and replace obamacare that went down in flames this past week. but of course, we also raised the tax cuts, which are near and dear to wall street and the financial community and near and dear to a lot of folks. whether this disrespects that momentum. deidra is joining us from the fox business network. i don t know that this would be an immediate impediment to that. there seems to be more unity within republicans on that issue than healthcare. what do you think? well, i m not so sure. in listening to your conversation with brett, this idea of how much did these flights cost taxpayers, makes us think how much are we paying and how much is government requiring all of our support and all of us to keep kicking it. there s a lot of dissension within the republican party over this tax plan. the one mortgage interest rate deduction, we know it s staying but it s available to fewer
numbers. a number of things that this budget different very well and will cut obviously taxes to the middle class. very important. what has concerned me about the tax code. people with the shorter stick are middle income, two income households because of the how complicated it is. if you re trying to reform taxes and just double the standard deduction, which would make it easier to prepare your taxes, i don t understand how everybody in politics can t get on board with some elements of that. i think simplification is important. the tax code is too many pages long. we have to think about taxes as the tool of the social construct. we have the mortgage interest rate deduction because we want people to buy houses. there s no golden geese in terms of tax reform. you used to deduct the interest
off the table but they many become less valuable as you get overall income tax rate down. bill: the mortgage interest rate deduction doesn t that hurt economy? they will buy this and get something back from the government in the alternative? i haven t met anybody that bought a home of the state mortgage deduction. the federal mortgage deduction. bill: i see. you can skate on what the federal policy is but i don t see that many doing that off state policy. bill: what is your position on charitable deductions? that we re leaving as a deduction but over time that would go away too because you have no income tax in the state. bill: what happens to charities though? do they take a hit? people have more money to give. if they, if you re not having to give it to the government and you have still got the federal charitable deduction, again that is really one that more people react off of than a state charitable deduction. bill: you have democrats saying you re in $4 billion hole. come
unless you end charitable deductions. he s right, isn t he? the math doesn t add up. it didn t add up with mitt romney. it doesn t add up today. it doesn t add up, and those targeted revenue measures serve certain goals that we actually care about more than helping billionaires. those goals include what you just said, incentivizing charitable giving, and also home ownership, which is a middle to upper class benefit, but it s one that we ve always encouraged with the mortgage interest rate deduction because we want people moving into the middle class. that matters more, that is better than just worrying about billionaires. one other point i want to hit since we re on the martin bashir show, i know this is a place for real talk so if we can have some real talk for a second. there is no fiscal cliff. there s no special deadline. these are long-term debates. you were asking mr. russert about the past negotiations because these are debates we ve had in the past that we will continue to ha
sign that you re going to be serious about making the cuts in spending that includes entitlement reform, that includes most importantly, tax reform. you know, the washington post this morning, lead story, mortgage interest deductions on the table. no, it s not. you re not going to have a serious discussion about taking off the mortgage interest rate deduction for anyone. i don t care how much money they make. without putting that as part of a larger tax reform measure. and that s not what they re talking about right now. they re not at that level of seriousness. what we re talking about is a lame-duck congress that s on its way out. the senate s getting two more members. their numbers are going to bump up to 55. you re going to get more members in the house on the democratic side. both leaderships in the house and the senate on the democratic side want that reset to go into new discussions. boehner knows that. and so they re puddling around the edges right now, i think to professor s