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As debate continues to swirl around the future of the mortgage interest tax deduction, Pew Charitable Trusts released a study on the
geographic impact of the long-standing tax break. The concentration of mortgage interest tax claims varies widely by state but is highest on the
East Coast and in parts of the West, Pew concluded. States with the lowest claim rates are generally located in the South. Looking at data from
the 2010 tax period, Pew found that nationwide, about 25.5 percent of all tax filers claimed the mortgage interest deduction (MID). Maryland
had the highest claim rate in the country that year, with 37 percent of its tax filers deducting their mortgage interest payments. The lowest
claim rates were in West Virginia and North Dakota, where 15 percent of filers cashed in on the MID. The amount claimed per tax filer was
also highest in Maryland at $4,580. The lowest claim-per-filer was in North Dakota—$1,192. Pew also noted differences in the distribution
of the MID within states. Often, residents in large metropolitan areas were more likely to claim the deduction than residents in less populated
or rural areas. "Looking at who benefits by state should inform federal policymakers as they consider options for changing or eliminating tax
expenditures over the next several years," said Anne Stauffer, a fiscal policy expert at Pew. In 2011, MID claims totaled about $360 billion.
Note: The state-by-state trends are based on a compilation
of March 2013 real estate public records data and proprietary
mortgage loan performance transactions provided by LPS
Applied Analytics as well as a preliminary unemployment rate
for March 2013 based upon public information from the Bureau
of Labor Statistics.
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