Sept. 16, 2025 7 AM PT
To the editor: I’m uninterested in everybody dumping on householders for getting a small comfort for attempting to carry on to the American dream in California, with just a few tax breaks. The whole lot is in opposition to you proudly owning a house right here: the setting (fires), mortgage charges, insurance coverage charges (frequent cancellations), utilities, upkeep prices. To not point out guidelines and restrictions imposed by the federal government and, in some instances, householders’ associations. I may go on and on. However I really like L.A. I really like my residence.
The purpose is contributing author Veronique de Rugy has all of it mistaken along with her critique of tax credit for householders (“Which tax breaks work, which don’t, and what that tells us,” Sept. 11). Proposition 13 saved my grandparents from shedding their residence in Eagle Rock and allowed me to purchase my dad and mom’ residence in Tarzana. I didn’t tear it down; it’s the identical home from 1950. I plan on giving it to my nephews after I’m gone. The federal tax deduction helps. In truth, my taxes went up underneath the primary Trump administration and have but to come back down.
Cease piling on us householders. We’re not all tremendous wealthy. We’re all simply attempting to outlive like everybody else.
Robert Davis, Tarzana
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To the editor: De Rugy attacked American tax deductions as not being income impartial, noting their impact on authorities deficits. For instance, she took subject with the deductability of mortgage curiosity. No consideration was given to the truth that deductible curiosity is often calculated by consumers and lenders when contemplating the affordability of a house mortgage. Absent that issue, many would both qualify for a smaller mortgage or none in any respect. There was no recognition of society’s curiosity within the social and financial advantages of homeownership that loans make potential.
De Rugy closed her column with the assertion: “If politicians had been severe about tax reform and monetary accountability, they might begin by eliminating any tax expenditures that fail the checks of neutrality or value effectiveness.” That was both meant to be tongue-in-cheek, or De Rugy utterly forgot about President Trump’s massive, ugly invoice that Congress narrowly adopted this yr, one which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will add a further $3.4 trillion to the prevailing $37 trillion nationwide debt over the following 10 years.
A lot for worrying about authorities deficits.
Gary L. Wartik, Palm Desert
