Mortgage Tax Breaks Encourage McMansions
Edward L. Glaeser says that the government policy of encouraging homeownership through tax breaks subsidizes Americans to buy bigger homes which waste energy.
Glaeser writes, "Americans, even poor Americans, have almost twice as much living space as the average resident of France or Germany. According to the Residential Energy Consumption Survey, homes with between 2,500 and 3,000 square feet of heated living space use 41 percent more electricity than homes with between 1,500 and 2,000 square feet of space. In an age of global warming, why should we subsidize the greater energy use inherent in larger homes?"
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Published on Friday, May 7, 2010 in
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