Even though the tax code generally does not refer to race and ethnicity, factors that affect people’s tax liabilities are often associated with those characteristics.

One example is the home mortgage interest deduction. Only homeowners benefit from the deduction, but a legacy of discrimination in the housing market and mortgage lending industry has led to lower homeownership rates—and fewer claims of the deduction—among Black and Hispanic families compared with white families. Other racial and ethnic disparities in income and wealth also contribute to the lower value of the deduction for Black and Hispanic families.

Join the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center for a conversation about race, the federal tax code, and tax subsidies for homeownership. The event will feature remarks from Jessica Fulton, vice president for policy at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, and a presentation of a new Tax Policy Center study of racial disparities in the home mortgage interest deduction. We will then hear a discussion from a panel of experts.

Opening Remarks:

• Tracy Gordon, Vice President and Acting Robert C. Pozen Director, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center

Keynote Speaker:

• Jessica Fulton, Vice President for Policy, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

Presentation of New TPC Study of Racial Disparities in the Home Mortgage Interest Deduction:

• Robert McClelland, Senior Fellow, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center

​Panel

• Neil Bhutta, Special Advisor, Consumer Finance Institute, Philadelphia Federal Reserve
• Michael Neal, Senior Fellow, Urban Institute
• Derrick Plummer, Director of Corporate Communications, Intuit
• Kamila Sommer, Chief, Consumer Finance Section, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
• Janet Holtzblatt, Senior Fellow, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center (moderator)

Speaker Biographies