We can write off interest *but* it is only really a benefit early on in you

>mortgage, when the interest payments are higher. In KY you can do that on
>your state taxes, too. It has not been of any benefit to me for several
>years now as my mortgage is 10+ yrs old.

But if your mortgage is over 25 or 30 years there still must be a
fair amount going to interest. In any case, just to toss out some
random figures, if you have a $250,000 mortgage at 6% over 25 years
you would over that time pay $229,855 in interest that you wrote off
at some point.

Yes, there is, but it is not enough to write off. You *can* write it off,
but it is not to your benefit. We have something called a "standard
deduction" that AFAIK everyone can take on their individual income tax.
The home mortage interest is only of value so long as (added up with a
few other things, like charitable contributions, personal property tax,
etc.) it is *greater than* the standard deduction.

So once that interest goes down enough, it is no longer of benefit. The
state standard deduction is lower than the federal, so it was of benefit
for a little longer there, but the state also doesn't allow you to add as
many things in that deduction equation (they no longer include personal property tax, as an example) so it eventually is also no longer of benefit.

Here our advantage is your *Principal* residence can be sold at a

>> huge profit without any Capital Gains tax involved.

That *is* nice. ;)

Do you pay tax on the amount your house goes up in value if you
sell it?

You do if you pocket it, I think. If you are buying another home I cannot remember. It has been long enough that I don't recall paying capital
gains, and the house I bought cost more than what I sold the previous one
for, but I might have.

A question off topic, which is funny considering the question..
Lots of conversations going on in the conference which is called
FI-Consprc. I assume FI is Fido? What is this area supposed to be
used to discuss?

If Consprc is short for Conspiracy then maybe some of this might
still be on topic.. B)

LOL you are right on both counts. It should be for Conspiracy topics,
which could include politics, but I do think we've got off topic on this thread. Since we are discussing tax differences between the US and
Canada, I will move this response over to the Canada Chat echo as I know we both read and post there. ;)

Mike

* SLMR 2.1a * Isn't "shrimp on a Barbie" a little kinky?
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We can write off interest *but* it is only really a benefit early on in you

>mortgage, when the interest payments are higher. In KY you can do that on
>your state taxes, too. It has not been of any benefit to me for several
>years now as my mortgage is 10+ yrs old.

But if your mortgage is over 25 or 30 years there still must be a

>> fair amount going to interest.

Yes, there is, but it is not enough to write off. You *can* write it off,

>but it is not to your benefit. We have something called a "standard
>deduction" that AFAIK everyone can take on their individual income tax.
>The home mortage interest is only of value so long as (added up with a
>few other things, like charitable contributions, personal property tax,
>etc.) it is *greater than* the standard deduction.

I see.. we have things like that here where it looks like you'll save
some tax doing something but, in the long run, it's better to not do it.

Ironically my biggest problem over the years was showing them where
my income was coming from. My expenses are ridiculously low in this
day and age and, until my pensions came in, it never looked like I
was making nearly enough money to live on, but didn't have any gov't
source of income (think Welfare) so, their natural assumption would
be that I am not reporting all my drug running income.. B)

So I went out of my way to report every penny I made doing small jobs
for the neighbours even though they paid me in cash and it wouldn't
be reported anywhere, the ideal type of income that most people would
never report..

---
* SLMR Rob * ... To boldly go where no sane person has any business
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