Impact of the treatment of mortgage interest

Campaigning and Policy

I have recently been adversely affected by the section 24 ruling on interest. For the tax year 19/20, my - then 75% - mortgage interest increased my gross income by more than 25%. This was despite efforts to reduce my capital borrowing. In that year, I was contacted by the Child Maintenance Service, who reassessed the payments I was making and increased them based on this artificial gross income figure, by £150pcm.
I contested this and after a 2-year struggle, was successful at Tribunal (albeit only for that year due to the idiosyncrasies of the system).
This year, on doing my tax return, the inclusion of mortgage interest (steadily increasing as quickly as I pay it off), has pushed me over £50,000, meaning we have had to pay back £2500 Child Benefit, despite my wife having been on maternity.
I have worked it out and I would be financially better off to keep a property empty for three months! I know that other landlords have been affected in similar ways. With the onset of the new capital gains ruling, we will be in a lose/lose situation, with the gross income figure forcing us into the higher rate. I note there is a petition currently being circulated:
https://petition.parliament.uk/signatures/130680409/verify?token=%5F2kWdotf0mweqVLCBzJ1