Natick Condominiums

The home builders' group paid for a survey this month that found strong support among consumers for the mortgage interest tax deduction and deductions for state and local taxes, including property taxes. The group also prepared a study of how individual homeowners in different parts of the country might be impacted by adopting the tax panel's recommended reforms.

Jerry Howard, CEO and executive vice president for the builders' association, said the tax panel's recommendations appear "out of touch with the American people." Howard also said that current homeowners planned to benefit from tax incentives when they bought their homes, and they should not be punished for their purchase. "It just seems like you're changing the rules in the middle of the game and that's patently unfair," he said.

David Wilson, president of the home builders' association, said the tax proposals, if adopted, "Would reduce housing values and send a chill throughout the housing market," adding that homeowners in high-cost areas like California and Florida "would bear the brunt" of the tax blow. "It would cripple markets that rely on second-home (buyers)."

U.S. homeowners save about $70 billion in taxes from deducting mortgage interest on their homes, said David Pressly, president-elect for the homebuilders' group. "Newest homeowners will probably be hit the hardest," he also said, as about 18 million people bought homes in the last three years and "most of these have significant mortgage interest payments and virtually all of them are counting on (deductions) to keep it at low levels."