The Republican Party's presidential platform will not include a proposal to preserve the mortgage interest tax deduction.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the omission of the deduction is seen as a victory for conservative activists who are seeking to create a simplified tax code that eliminates many current deductions. The committee drafting the Republican platform reportedly raised a great deal of debate, and the vote on its omission was decided in a show of hands after both sides felt they had won the voice vote.
The amendment failed on a show of hands after committee leaders couldn't decide which side had won a voice vote.
Kevin Erickson, a Minnesota delegate opposed to the deduction, cheered the decision. ‘Comprehensive tax reform that we're talking about means the entire thing gets redone from the ground up,’ he says.
However, Delaware delegate John Sigler warns that the omission of the deduction will agitate voters.
‘[The deduction] shows the Republican Party's policy of supporting the middle class [and] supporting those who want to enter the middle class,’ Sigler says.