If you were to randomly ask a sample of 100 Americans from around the country why the mortgage interest deduction was implemented in the tax code, I'd wager that the bulk of the answers would range from "I don't know" to "they were designed to give a tax break to the rich."  Both answers suggest ignorance of facts, but the former is at least honest.  The latter is just regurgitation of a leftist talking point by those feigning knowledge on the subject. The truth is a bit different than popular perception on this matter.  Few, if any, among that small sample would offer the correct answer.  That is, that the mortgage interest deduction has been a part of the tax code since 1913, when the 16th Amendment was first implemented, and that there was fairly sound reason for it. Essentially, such interest payments have been deductible in the modern American tax era as an effort to preserve market neutrality in the lending market, in...(Read Full Article)