Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson comes up with a really bad idea:
As a longtime realtor in Cobb County, Sen. Johnny Isakson has seen housing downturns before. “We had recessions in 1968, 1974, 1982, and 1991, by every measurement, this is going to be a deeper and bigger recession in residential housing. It’s a significant event.”
Isakson is pitching an idea to his colleagues in Congress: a $15,000 tax rebate check to anyone who agrees to buy a home. Congressional budget analysts project the program would cost $14 billion over the next few years. But Isakson said the rebate checks are well worth the hefty price tag. “If we can convince buyers to come back to the marketplace and buy these houses, then the houses aren’t vacant. It’s replaced by an owner-occupant, who is there making payments on a loan and helping all of the other houses around.”
Because, ya know, that $ 14 billion in taxpayer dollars was just lying around gathering dust anyway.
H/T: Jason Pye
April 14th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Just like many other parts of our tax code, we should not artificially manipulate the market forces since, being human, we’ll just as often get it wrong as right (and that’s being optimistic).