The usual rhetoric

Regarding "Tax bill cuts perks to owners of homes" (Saturday Front Page), it's no surprise that this article comes from a reporter of the New York Times.  Columnist Conor Dougherty flogs the classic liberal argument that deductions for mortgage interest and property taxes are blessings that the federal government bestow upon home owners, and implies that those benefits are not only undeserved, but represent unacceptable "social engineering."

He inevitably quotes a Harvard economist who declares that there should be a "limit in the federal government’s willingness to subsidize ownership".  Well, as a taxpayer, there is also a limit to my willingness to tolerate an overbearing federal government that thinks my money is theirs, and that they will decide how much of it I get to keep.  

Voters made that abundantly clear in 2016, giving Republicans both houses of congress and the presidency, which lead to the aforementioned tax reform.  Dougherty ought to ponder the import of the People's will, instead of recycling liberal think tank arguments that were claptrap fifty years ago, and are claptrap today.

Pete Smith

Cypress, TX