[matsemann]

But it keeps renters renters. I'd rather forego my tax deduction for owning my apartment and bake it into the normal tax. I feel it's unfair a friend can pay the same amount as me each month, but instead of paying down a loan he loses everything to a landlord. And in addition I also get to deduct the ~rents~ interest.

[sokoloff]

I'm not sure what you mean by "I also get to deduct the rents", but it doesn't match anything that I understand about the tax code.

[matsemann]

Lets say I pay $2000 each month in mortgage. Some of that is interest that I get to deduct on my taxes. So in practice I pay maybe $1700/month, and most of that is really me saving by building equity in my apartment.

Before I bought the apartment, however, I paid more than that in rent. And all that was money going to someone else. If anyone deserves a tax break, it's those not privileged enough to yet own their own home.

Edit: sorry, in my language "rente" is "interest", so I mixed them up and meant to say I get to deduct the interest part of my mortgage payment in my previous post. Probably where the confusion stems from.