When Congress passed an $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers last winter, it was intended as a dose of shock therapy during a crisis.  Now the question is becoming whether the housing market can function without it.  In the view of the real estate industry and some economists, all that money is well spent.  They contend the credit is doing what it was meant to do, encouraging a recovery in the housing market that is gathering steam.  Analysts say the credit is directly responsible for several hundred thousand home sales.  Skeptics argue that most of the money is going to people who would have bought a home anyway.  And they contend that unless it is allowed to expire on schedule in late November, the tax credit is likely to become one more expensive government program that refuses to die.  The real estate industry, including the powerful 1.1 million-member National Association of Realtors, wants Congress to extend the credit at least through next summer.  The group hopes to expand the program to $15,000 and to allow all buyers, not just those who have been out of the market for at least three years, to qualify.  The price tag on that plan: $50 billion to $100 billion. (The New York Times)

I think it is important that Congress extend the tax credit, but I don’t want it to become a permanant program.  I don’t think it should be expanded to $15,000, but I do think it would be a good idea to include all home buyers instead of just those who have been out of the market for three years.  I believe the program has stimulated not only the housing market but the economy as a whole.  What do you think?  I would love to hear your opinion of what Congress should do.