Mortgage interest deduction on the line again

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that the top tax bracket in 2011 and 2012 under the extension of the Bush era tax cuts will continue to be 35 percent.  The Obama administration's proposed 2012 budget would trim the value of itemized deductions for high-income taxpayers by nearly one-third, reducing the tax benefit some homeowners with mortgages receive if they itemize the interest portion of their loan payments on their tax returns.The administration proposed such a measure as part of last year's budget negotiations, but Congress did not approve it.In this year's budget message, President Obama pitched a cut in itemized deductions for the wealthy as a means for paying for the cost of protecting middle-class taxpayers from having to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax, or AMT.For too long, "we have tolerated a tax system that's a complex, inefficient and loophole-riddled mess," the president said in his budget message. Year after year, he said, "we go...