Sherrill Throws SALT in McCarthy’s Wounds
For years – and years, it seems – Democrats have been trying to get the so-called SALT cap eliminated.
It’s been a long, winding and so far, unsuccessful road.
Capping the state and local tax deduction on federal taxes at $10,000 was part of the Trump tax reform package in 2017.
Democrats ran against the cap in 2018 arguing that it adversely impacted middle class families in New Jersey and New York. This was a successful strategy as the Dems took control of the House.
The Democratic-controlled House voted more than once to get rid of the cap, but the then-Republican Senate balked.
Last year with Democrats controlling the Senate, cap relief was included in the original Build Back Better bill, but it didn’t make the final cut. That left things the way they began five years ago – the deduction for state and local taxes on your federal tax form is capped at $10,000.
New Jersey Republicans blasted Democrats for allowing this to happen during last fall’s midterm election, but for the most part they were unsuccessful. The only incumbent Democrat to lose was Tom Malinowski, but redistricting had put him in a Republican-leaning region.
Now Republicans control the House, making SALT cap elimination seem more distant than ever.
Mikie Sherrill is still trying.
The congresswoman from the 11th District said Thursday that she will introduce the Middle Class Tax Relief Act, a plan that would effectively eliminate the cap. Officially, it would raise the deduction cap to $100,000 for singles and $200,000 for couples, thereby providing relief to all but the very rich.
Sherrill stressed in a zoom interview that a co-sponsor is Republican Michael Lawler of New York, whose district lies just over the stateline from Bergen County. She expressed hope that some of the other just-elected Republican House members from New York state would support the effort. One of those newly-elected members, of course, is the now-infamous George Santos. Gee, how prudent is it to depend on him?
Nonetheless, it is still going to be a tough challenge, assuming that most House Republicans probably have no interest in doing away with the SALT cap.
That possibility has Sherrill looking ahead.
She said GOP intransigence on this issue can help Democrats win back those New York GOP seats and take back the House in 2024.
SALT is a dead issue. The only reason for SALT is because NJ, NY and other northeast blue states can’t stop their profligate spending habits by using taxpayers as their own personal “piggy banks” and defrauding them with high property taxes, when there is no need for it. Enough is Enough!!!! Forget about SALT and let NJ, NY and the other high tax states start cutting excessive property taxes and controlling their budgets, and there won’t be a need to have SALT tax deductions.
Experts are saying cutting property taxes by 75% is done by de-coupling the education taxes from property taxes. Using income and/or sales taxes to pay for education taxes is the more equitable way to go, since everyone will pay their fair share towards education taxes.