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Bush Supports Stabenow Mortgage Relief Act,
by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
US Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) has announced that President Bush will include
the Mortgage Relief Act in his initiative to assist homeowners impacted by troubled
mortgages.
The Mortgage Relief Act, introduced in May by Senator Stabenow, would change
a current law which forces individuals to pay an income tax when they have had
a part of their mortgage loan forgiven, or have been forced to foreclose because
of their inability to pay their mortgage. The bill is also sponsored by Senator
Carl Levin (D-MI), George Voinovich (R-OH) and John Kerry (D-MA).
Commenting on her proposals, Stabenow argued that "it is wrong to unfairly
tax families when they are faced with the prospect of losing their home".
“I look forward to working with the President and my colleagues to prevent
additional, unfair economic hardship in the lives of those who find themselves
in truly unfortunate circumstances. We need to make it easier, not harder, for
Americans to keep their homes," she added.
The IRS currently taxes any loan forgiveness as “income”. The Mortgage
Relief Act will relieve families of a tax burden when their lender forgives
part of the mortgage on a principal residence.
According to Stabenow, under current law there are a number of situations in
which homeowners are unfairly taxed when trying to responsibly address their
inability to meet their mortgage. For instance, if a family owns a home with
a $100,000 mortgage and can’t afford to make their payments, the bank can
step in and refinance the house at a lower value to better reflect the decreased
market value. Under current law, if the bank values the home at $80,000 the
family would have to pay taxes on the $20,000 difference between the new and
the original mortgages.
In addition, the President’s plan will urge Congress to reform current
laws to make it easier for the Federal Housing Administration to offer aid to
mortgage holders with subprime mortgages. His proposal will also include an
increased effort to enforce predatory lending laws and strengthen lending practices.
At a White House news conference last Friday, President Bush pledged to work
with Congress to temporarily amend the federal tax code to make it easier for homeowners
to refinance their mortgages during the current market stress.
"I believe we need to change the code to make it easier for people to
refinance their homes and stay in their homes. And to this end, I've called
Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and told her that she's onto a good idea
with the bill that she and George Voinovich have submitted to the Senate,"
Bush stated.
The President added that similar legislation being introduced by Rob Andrews (D - NJ)
and Ron Lewis (R - KY) in the House of Representatives is also "positive".
"With a few changes in the Senate version and the House version, this
administration can support these bills, and we look forward to working with
them - the senators and the members of the House - to pass common-sense legislation
to help us address this issue," he announced.
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