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Newsday: Congressional SALT caucus will push for repeal of SALT limit and educate public on how limit hurts middle class

April 16, 2021

Members of Congress launched a "bipartisan SALT coalition" aimed at educating the public about the need to restore the full State and Local Tax deduction, which would cut taxes for many property owners on Long Island and in high-tax areas nationwide.

The SALT deduction was limited to $10,000 in 2017 when President Donald Trump signed into law a $1.5 trillion overhaul of the federal tax code. The plan was authored by Congressional Republicans.

The effort to repeal the limit, backed by both Democratic and Republican members of Congress, emphasized the outsized effect of the 2017 law on middle-class property owners throughout the country.

Some Democrats, including Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-Glen Cove), said they would not support President Biden's infrastructure bill unless it fully restored the SALT deduction.

Suozzi said the goal is to "educate people how the middle class in my district or in many of the districts here, is very different from the middle class in other districts in the country," he said. "If you make $100,000 or $120,000 or $150,000 in my district, that’s middle class. In other parts of the country, that’s seen as being upper-income."

Now, with a Democratic President and the House and Senate under Democratic control, a growing number of House members have pushed to immediately restore the full deduction.

Outside of the U.S. Capitol Thursday, Republican and Democratic members of Congress from New York, New Jersey, and California, where property taxes are among the highest in the nation, expressed support for the proposal.

The 2017 decision by Republicans was done to punish "blue states" where property taxes are disproportionately higher, Democratic lawmakers said.

Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) said the issue affects middle-class taxpayers, including teachers, firefighters, cops, and small business owners.