Professor Ventry Quoted on Mortgage-Interest Deduction in The New Yorker
Professor Dennis Ventry is quoted in an article published in the January 12 issue of The New Yorker. The author, James Surowiecki, questions the effectiveness of government programs intended to boost home ownership. He argues that mortgage-interest deductions do not help people who otherwise can't afford to buy houses become homeowners; rather, they merely encourage more affluent people to buy bigger, more expensive homes.
"It's a classic upside-down subsidy: it goes to all the wrong people," Ventry states. "If you really want to help people buy homes who otherwise wouldn't, we've chosen exactly the wrong tool."
Professor Ventry is an expert in tax policy and legal ethics. His research interests include tax expenditure analysis, family taxation, professional responsibility and standards of care, tax filing and administration, tax compliance, public finance, and tax and legal history. In addition, he was recently added as a co-author on the casebook, Federal Income Taxation with Paul McDaniel, Martin McMahon, Jr., and Daniel L. Simmons.