Trump wants to make auto loan interest tax-deductible. It would mostly help the rich., experts say.

Donald Trump is now pitching a new tax cut that, on the face of it, would seem to benefit almost every American who owns a car. 

The former president on Thursday proposed making interest on auto loans tax-deductible, an idea that is similar to the mortgage interest deduction, which allows some homeowners to reduce their taxable income by the amount of money they pay in mortgage interest each year.

Since it was introduced more than a century ago, the mortgage interest deduction has helped boost homeownership in the U.S. by making real estate purchases more affordable to families — a theme that Trump echoed in his proposal to extend the idea to car purchases. Americans owe about $1.63 trillion in auto loans, making it the second-largest category of debt after home loans, according to Federal Reserve data.