Yes and those people, in turn, are the people who are going to make up for the crazy amount of money not going to federal government due to people like me. There's almost no justification for it other than we can't get rid of it, because people's current spending is based on the projection that they'll continue to have this deduction. The behavior is entrenched in the system, and probably can't be removed now. Certainly there are many other evil deductions and credits besides the mortgage deduction, but I chose that one to pick on in particular, because 1) it's taken by lots of people, and 2) I'm included in that lot, and it's easy to pick on oneself.2) it artificially inflates the cost of housing, which makes home ownership less accessible to people with low (or no) credit.