New York’s Lawler Says Higher SALT Cap ‘Critical’ for Taxpayers
(Bloomberg) -- US Representative Mike Lawler slammed his home state of New York for high spending and said he will push President-elect Donald Trump to raise the cap on state and local tax deductions hurting many of the state’s taxpayers.
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The Republican House member, who represents some of New York City suburbs including Rockland County and parts of Westchester, told Bloomberg TV Wednesday that his constituents are suffering under Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul’s policies like congestion pricing, which went into effect this week. The toll charges most drivers $9 to enter Manhattan below 60th street.
Hochul is “scamming New Yorkers out of $2,500 a year just for the privilege of driving to work while spending billions of dollars of taxpayer money on free housing, clothing, food, education and healthcare for illegal immigrants,” said Lawler, who is weighing a challenge to Hochul in next year’s gubernatorial race. “One party rule in Albany has been an abject disaster.”
Lawler said raising the so-called SALT tax break from the current $10,000 cap is critical for New Yorkers. Lawler is part of a group of several House members from the high-tax states of New York, California and New Jersey traveling to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate this weekend to discuss expanding the deduction ahead of a looming fight over an extension of his 2017 tax cuts. Lawler told Bloomberg he has proposed raising the cap to $100,000 for individuals and $200,000 for married couples. The current cap is the same for both single and married taxpayers.
“The $10,000 cap is woefully insufficient,” he said. “Long term for New York, this is critical. We lead the nation in out-migration, our tax base is eroding.”
He added that the cap is penalizing New Yorkers “for living in a high-tax state. This is double taxation. And for those of my colleagues who say this is a subsidy, the fact is that New York contributes more to the federal government than it receives.”
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