Via Neil Sinhababu, an excellent discussion of the disastrous mortgage interest tax deduction by Yahoo’s Jeanne Sahadi:

Almost half of the returns claiming the deduction were from filers with incomes over $100,000, and roughly 75% in foregone revenue that year went to them.

Meanwhile, 32% of the money went to households with incomes over $200,000, even though they accounted for only 11% of the returns claiming the deduction.

Moreover, since housing is treated more favorably tax-wise than other investments such as stocks, some economists believe the home tax breaks distort people’s investment decisions. By making the mortgage deduction less valuable, they argue, that could make the economy more efficient overall.

Senators Judd Gregg and Ron Wyden left the deduction untouched in their otherwise worthy tax reform proposal. Gregg explained: “We wanted a politically viable vehicle.”

I think this is a miscalculation on their part. Precisely the appeal of a bipartisan tax reform bill is that it can serve as the vehicle for otherwise impossible reforms like putting this deduction on a path to phase out. As written, Wyden-Gregg can’t possibly pass unless it’s supported by a bipartisan block of legislators and a cross-ideological set of wonks and elites. Becoming more ambitious by tackling the mortgage interest thing makes it more likely that you can assemble that kind of coalition. Right now I think Wyden-Gregg is in a kind of dead zone where it takes on enough special interests that it’s politically infeasible, but it’s also small-bore enough that the people who like it aren’t inclined to invest a ton of energy in it.

Try to imagine an American having Bruno Bézard’s official biography:

Bruno Bezard, 45, has served since February 2007 as Managing Director of the Agency for State Equity Investments (APE) within the French Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment. He is also a Director of Areva, Air France-KLM, EDF, Thales, La Poste, Grand Port Maritime de Marseille, Dexia and Strategic Investment Fund (FSI). From September 1994 to May 1998, Bruno Bezard served as Bureau Chief with the Department of the Treasury, responsible for financing housing, savings collection circuits and the Post Office. From May 1998 to January 2000, he served as the sub-Director for the Department of Treasury, responsible for insurance. From January to March 2000, he was Deputy Chief of Staff for the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry. In May 2000, Bruno Bezard was appointed sub-Director in the Department of the Treasury for development assistance, multilateral banks and emerging countries. At the same time, he became Vice-Chairman of the Club de Paris. From June 2001 to April 2002, he served as Economic and Financial Advisor to the Prime Minister. As Head of the Equity Investments Department until September 2004, he was then appointed Deputy Managing Director of the Agency for State Equity Investments (APE) and was named Managing Director on February 26, 2007. Directorships and offices outside the France Telecom Group- Director representing the French government of: Areva ; EDF; La Poste; Air France – KLM; Thales; Grand Port Maritime de Marseille; Dexia; Fonds Strategique d’Investissement. Directorships and offices expiring in the last five years – Director of: Renault; France Televisions; SNCF.

Obviously one can debate the merits of the French economic model, but in the scheme of things they’re doing okay. Most notably, it’s just not that different in terms of per capita income from what you see in other countries like the UK or New Zealand that hew much closer to the orthodoxy.