Please explain how a poverty level wage earner is subsidizing high income earners regarding taxes...
Through the mortgage interest tax deduction which disproportionately goes to the high-income and makes up the majority of government housing aid. I have paid into the tax system, not getting a discount on my housing, the same as most poverty level people, while those that are at higher incomes who choose to own a home receive the mortgage interest tax deduction.
Okay- I'm still working on this theoretical. Let's assume I can't find a home I can afford before I switch jobs (current job is making me miserable and I'm working 75+ hours a week right now). Should I be negotiating for the maximum possible like usually encouraged or negotiating based on other tax factors, such as possible house?
Edit: Replied before I saw other posts! thanks Mskyle and bender! Lifetime salary deferential is what I was working off of. I'm used to nonprofits that don't usually come with a raise.
If it makes you feel any better, I lost my mortgage interest deduction years ago because of the AMT.
I would recommend that you do: house first, then job. Decouple the two.
Funny story. I live in So Cal, and it's really expensive here. Our town/ county has a number of subsidized homes, some for rent, some for purchase. The purchaseable homes include those for people at poverty level, "middle class", and executives, with appropriate price tags. There are requirements that include:
1. Home must be lived in by the owner
2. If sold, it must be sold to someone who qualifies, and can only be sold for a certain amount above the purchase price (i.e., not market rate)
3. It does not become a market rate unit for 40-45 years.
4. You cannot own any other property.
I had a coworker who was a single mom, who would apply for one of these condos whenever they came open. There would be hundreds of people applying, maybe only 100 who met the financial eligibility. Give her credit for trying. She was living in Section 8 subsidized apartment already.
So they built a new condo development downtown. A lot of high end condos (one purchased by Lance Armstrong), with 8 "middle income" subsidized units intermixed. These were obviously smaller than the $1M to $2M condos in the development. There were a couple of 1BR and the rest were 2BR/ approx 1000 sf.
An engineer who worked for me decided to apply. The upper income requirement for a single person was $57,000. This was...2007? Around there. We were only paying him about $51k. 100 people were eligible. They start picking names. He's number 5. He gets the condo ($180,000).
Two months later he accepts a new job for $72,000.
That's the way to do it.