US tax bill upends long-time perks of owning a home

Washington

FOR decades, the US tax code has been filled with rewards for homeownership. Tax breaks encourage people to get into first homes and to trade up as they get older, building a national mindset that you're never quite middle class until you've qualified for a mortgage.

It amounts to a vast social engineering project that assumes society is better off with owners instead of renters. But the tax bill making its way toward final passage is upending that premise.