[quote=FormerSanDiegan]The #1 legal tax break is write-off of interest of your first mortgage. Of course, getting that requires you to leverage real estate which has been a losing proposition the last few years.
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Unfortunately, this itemized deduction I believe also starts getting reduced above certain income levels…
Also, there is a point in which you end up paying AMT….and some itemized deductions won’t count toward AMT (property tax and income tax deductions aren’t part of AMT calculation, for instance).
Ironically, experimenting with my tax software, I think mortgage interest payments are still deductions when computing AMT…..
