The Hidden Homeownership Welfare State: An International Long-Term Perspective on the Tax Treatment of Homeowners

Welfare is traditionally understood through social security decommodifying labor markets or investment policies. In the domain of housing, however, welfare for homeowners largely hidden in tax codes’ fiscal exemptions. Based on a content analysis legislation, this paper introduces novel yearly database 37 countries between 1910 and 2020 to uncover “hidden state” taxes imputed rent, deductibility mortgage payments, housing capital gains VAT newly built dwellings. Summary indices homeownership attractiveness neutrality code show that policies have been decline until 1980s risen ever since. They are place where finance liberally restrictively regulated. Contrary classical state, they not associated with an economic logic industrialism left-wing governments, but rent-regulation alternative Common-Law jurisdictions smaller countries. As property owners, diverges from laboring classes.