Premium
Abolish the Mortgage Subsidy
Author(s) -
Taylor Tom
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
economic affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1468-0270
pISSN - 0265-0665
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0270.1984.tb01645.x
Subject(s) - subsidy , taxpayer , voucher , occupancy , shared appreciation mortgage , finance , mortgage insurance , mortgage underwriting , economics , public economics , business , market economy , accounting , macroeconomics , engineering , casualty insurance , architectural engineering , insurance policy
Ian Gow, Minister of Housing, is faced with a market massively distorted by subsidies and controls imposed at the whim of earlier politicians. Mortgage subsidies, coupled with rent controls, have virtually abolished the rented sector, and have encouraged (at the taxpayer's expense) owner‐occupancy among groups which would probably have preferred to rent. Tom Taylor, of the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology, argues that the current system reduces choice in housing and that the mortgage subsidy should be abolished, replaced for the less well‐off by a housing voucher.