Thanks for Trying Congressman Lawler
By Dan Murphy
Westchester Congressman Mike Lawler’s attempt to lift the Federal Tax deduction for State and Local Taxes, (SALT), failed without getting a vote on the House floor. Many New York Democrats did not support Lawler’s attempt to lift the $10,000 cap on SALT as a deduction on your Federal Income Taxes.
But a handful of Lawler’s fellow republicans also did not support his effort. And while the issue is complicated, we applaud Lawler for his efforts to highlight the issue.
Prior to 2016, Americans could deduct 100% of their SALT from their Federal income taxes. That changed after former President Donald Trump passed a large tax cut with the help of republicans in congress in 2017.
In exchange for a lower tax rate across the board for all Americans, the rules on deducting your SALT from your Federal return were also changed, to a $10,000 maximum deduction. For many Westchester homeowners who pay $25,000+ in property taxes every year, the caping of SALT was difficult.
But on the other hand, the same Westchester homeowner who lost some of their SALT deduction should also have paid less in Federal Income taxes because of the Trump tax cut.
House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer both opposed Lawler’s plan.
“When I came to Congress, the very first bill I introduced was the SALT Marriage Penalty Elimination Act to provide immediate tax relief to hard working middle class families throughout the Hudson Valley. Over the last 13 months, I fought tirelessly, including with members of my own party, to get a bill to the floor to receive fair consideration and an up or down vote,” said Congressman Lawler.
“Rather than join me in bipartisan cooperation to deliver for all New Yorkers Hakeem Jeffries, and House Democrats from across New York chose to play politics and stop SALT relief dead in its tracks, while Governor Hochul and Senators Schumer and Gillibrand remained silent. They put partisan politics ahead of what is best for the people they represent and it’s shameful.”
“While I am disappointed in the result, I remain undeterred. Along with my New York Republican colleagues, I will continue to fight for SALT tax relief and work towards a bipartisan legislative fix,” concluded Congressman Lawler.
Lawler’s opponent in November, former Congressman Mondaire Jones, said, “Mike Lawler worked hard to put Donald Trump in the White House in 2016. Then Trump’s 2017 tax scam bill capped the SALT deduction at $10,000 and forced households in the Lower Hudson Valley to pay thousands more dollars in annual taxes. Now Rep. Lawler wants credit for trying to make minor improvements to a problem he helped cause. In fact, there’s not a crisis Lawler claims to be trying to solve that Republicans aren’t responsible for creating in the first place. This fall, voters can fire Lawler and finally end the least productive Congress since the Great Depression,” Mondaire Jones said.
“When Mondaire represented the Lower Hudson Valley in Congress, he was instrumental in convincing a majority of his House colleagues to support SALT relief, which would have raised the cap on the State and Local Tax deduction from $10,000 to $80,000 for both individuals and families for 10 years. In comparison, the legislation Mike Lawler is pushing – and which just failed to even be considered for a vote today by a large margin – would just raise the cap for one year and would apply only to some taxpayers,” said Shannon Geison, Campaign Manager for Mondaire for Congress stated.
But Jones was also unable to get SALT relief legislation through Congress and signed by the President.
Westchester County Executive and Congressional candidate George Latimer called the SALT cap “a disaster.”
“The SALT deduction cap continues to be a thorn in the side of Westchester residents. It’s a disaster for our community, limiting our ability to fully deduct our state and local taxes, unfairly burdening homeowners and hindering economic growth,” said Latimer.
In the face of this challenge, Latimer has taken action to alleviate the strain on taxpayers by working to mitigate the impact of this policy through five consecutive years of either freezing or actually reducing the County portion of homeowner’s property tax bill.
Latimer added: “Here in Westchester, our Administration has provided some respite for County property owners by reducing the tax burden while still maintaining – and even expanding – top level services for our community.”
Latimer is challenging Congressman Jamaal Bowman in the 16th District-NY. Rep. Bowman voted against Lawler’s plan to lift the SALT cap.
Lawler and Jones are running in New York’s 17th Congressional District, parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester Counties.
