Top banking executives called the Republican tax plan an important first step toward tax reform and economic stimulus, but questions immediately arose about whether trade-offs and complexities in the bill would undercut it.
Hopes that tax reform might soften a weakening of the mortgage interest deduction were quickly dashed as the GOP plan landed a double punch on the incentive cherished by the mortgage and housing industries.
But the home mortgage deduction for existing mortgages would be preserved, according to a two-page outline of the House GOP tax reform bill. Meanwhile, homebuilder stocks initially plunged.
Some housing groups are warming to an idea that they say could help more Americans benefit from housing-related subsidies than the mortgage interest deduction.
