The Spatial Distribution of Housing-Related Ordinary Income Tax Benefits
Joseph Gyourko and Todd Sinai
Download Document| Date Published | 2003 |
| Version | |
| Primary Author | Joseph Gyourko and Todd Sinai |
| Other Authors | |
| Theme | Housing Finance Subsidies |
| Country |
Abstract
We estimate how tax subsides to owner-occupied housing are distributed spatially across the United States and find striking skewness. At the state level, the mean tax benefit per owned unit in 1990 ranged from $917 in South Dakota to $10,718 in Hawaii. The dispersion is slightly grater when benefit flows are measured at the metropolitan area level. Even assuming the subsidies are funded in an income progressively-neutral manner, a relatively few metro areas, primarily in California and the New York-Boston corridor, are shown to gain considerably while the vast majority of areas have relatively small gains or losses.