For most renters their single largest deduction is State income Tax. You have to have taxable income of about $100K (single) or $160K (Married-Joint) for your state income tax to equal the federal standard deuction (5K single 10K married) http://www.ftb.ca.gov/individuals/tax_table/index.asp
If you have more than this amount in taxable income or if you regularly itemize anyway, you can ignore the loss of standard deduction in your calculations of comparing
renting to owning.
