The housing boom in the United States might never have reached the proportions that it did if homeowners had been unable to treat interest payments on home loans as a tax deduction. Corporations are allowed to deduct interest payments on bonds, but stock dividends are effectively taxed at the both the corporate and the individual level.
但政策所导致的扭曲也扮演了一个重大角色。许多国家的税收系统极大地偏袒债务而非权益。如果购房者无法将需要向房屋贷款支付的利息当作减税的话，美国的房市繁荣根本就无法达到曾经的那个高度。企业也被允许减免为债券所支付的利息，但股票分红无论是在企业还是个人方面都要被征税。