(Alexandria,VA) – The 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union is warning citizens andurging Congress to oppose the just-introduced conference report on the“Minibus” appropriations bill. The legislation claims to save money, but inreality is a bloated mess, and the cherry on top is a proposed Federal Housing Administration(FHA) rule change to conforming loan limits that would authorize taxpayerbacking of a high tier of “jumbo” home loans that ironically would only help roughlythe top 1 percent of home purchases.
The controversial protest movement “OccupyWall Street” has made hay complaining about disparities between the so-called “99percent and the 1 percent.” While the use of this analogy is not alwaysaccurate or fair, some in Washington seem intent on making sure this brokenclock is right at least once as they consider subsidizing home loans up to$729,750. Insuring loans this large through FHA likely means American taxpayerswould be backing multi-million dollar residences.
For reference, the pre-bailout loanlimit was “just” $417,000,an amount that would still cover 92 percent of allhome purchases. Federal involvement in the mortgage market has already costtaxpayers a staggering $186 billion.
“The Occupy movement’smisunderstanding of who pays income taxes may be maddening to overburdenedtaxpayers and Tea Party activists, but both groups should be able to agree thatpublic money should not be risked to back mortgages on extraordinarily expensivehomes,” said NTU Vice President of Government Affairs Andrew Moylan. “Perhapsthis combined ire can dissuade Congress where recent experience has clearlyfailed, and save taxpayers from another poor piece of legislation like the‘Minibus.’”
To read more on this unfortunatetaxpayer subsidy click HEREto visit NTU’s blog Government Bytes.
To request a comment or schedule an interview with an NTU expert onthis topic, contact Communications Manager Doug Kellogg at dkellogg@ntu.org or(703) 299-8698