WASHINGTON – Rep. Leonard Lance (NJ-07) today introduced a bipartisan House Resolution seeking to put Congress on record in support of protecting the mortgage interest tax deduction. More than 170,000 New Jersey tax filers benefit from the deduction.

Lance said his legislation would help call attention to a harmful provision in President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2010 budget which proposes to reduce the mortgage deduction from 35 percent to 28 percent on those households making more than $250,000.

H.CON.RES.130 seeks to put Congress on record protecting the current mortgage deduction – a move he says would send an important signal to the White House and other lawmakers about the importance of the deduction to working families.

“My constituents are not ‘super rich.’ They are hard-working, middle-class families facing some of the highest taxes in the country,” said Lance. “The mortgage tax deduction allows New Jersey’s homeowners to keep more of what they earn. It makes absolutely no sense to propose raising taxes on home owners and home buyers at a time of economic crisis.”

According to the National Association of Realtors, more than 173,000 New Jersey tax filers earn enough to be adversely affected by the proposed cut — the fifth highest total in the nation.

Rep. Gerald Connolly of Virginia is the lead Democratic cosponsor of the measure.

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