Tax 'em Till They Turn Red

I know this is a couple days old, but Daniel Gross of Slate does a great job of explaining BushCo's new tax reform proposals and how his red state constiuents have nothing to worry about. One of the proposals BushCo's advisory commission recommends is to cut the deduction of mortgage interest payments to say around $300,000.

This leaves Blue States - primarily coastal communities on both coasts high and dry, since they currently have the highest property taxes. Gross notes:

On the one hand, gutting the mortgage-interest deduction seems progressive, because the deduction now favors the well-off: The mortgage deduction gets more generous the more expensive the home you buy, and the more income you have. And property taxes are generally a function of home size and value. On the other hand, regional variations in home prices and state and local taxes would heavily skew the burden of these tax changes onto blue-staters. Who has the most to lose if the mortgage deduction is capped at $313,000, and if you can no longer deduct local taxes from your taxable federal income? People who live in places where (a) real estate is expensive; (b) states and/or cities tax income; and (c) property taxes are high, to support local schools and services. In other words, people who live in California, Seattle, the entire Atlantic seaboard from Maryland up to Maine, and well-off suburbs of Chicago. If you live in a $300,000 McMansion in a state with no income tax, like, say, Texas or Wyoming, these changes aren't likely to affect you at all. But if you just bought a $700,000 house in Takoma Park, Md., you're screwed three ways.

Is this coincidental or calculated? Why are Republicans interested in tax reform all of a sudden, given that the top tier of BushCo donors benefit the most from the rash tax cuts?

There is more to come on this...