Former President Donald Trump is promising to restore a major tax credit for property owners ahead of a rally with thousands of his supporters in suburban Nassau County on Wednesday.
The pledge is notable for a couple reasons. For one, Trump says he considers the state somewhat in play. For another, it was Trump who helped gut the tax credit in the first place, in what many saw as retaliation against “blue states.”
In 2017, then-President Donald Trump helped cap state and local tax deductions — or SALT — to help pay for a package of federal tax cuts. The cap puts a $10,000 limit on the amount of state and local tax costs that married couples can deduct from their federal taxes.
“We have a real chance of winning, for the first time in many decades, New York,” he said on his social media site, Truth Social, after making false claims about crime and terrorism.
“I will turn it around, get SALT back, lower your taxes, and so much more,” he added.
The pledge throws a hunk of red meat to higher-earning suburban voters in New York and New Jersey — two states that haven’t voted for a Republican for president since Ronald Reagan.
Democrats on both sides of the Hudson reacted to Trump’s about-face with skepticism and sarcasm, dismissing it as a political ploy.
“Quite a suburban hero,” said New York Democratic Chair Jay Jacobs, who added that Trump is “the guy who stabs you in the back and then promises to stitch you up if only you elect him president.”
Republicans, on the other hand, embraced Trump’s apparent change of heart, which some swing-district representatives have been pushing for years.
“Spare me the righteous indignation here,” Rep. Mike Lawler said in a phone interview on Wednesday, scoffing at a social media post from Mondaire Jones, his Democratic rival in the November election. In a separate post, Jones called Trump’s support of a repeal a “lie.”
Lawler was chief among those in high-tax states pushing to reform the deduction for married couples with a bill this year that ultimately failed to get the necessary traction ahead of the November general election.
“The reality is that I’ve been very clear on this, and that we would not support a tax bill that doesn’t lift the cap on SALT,” Lawler said.
The squabbling between the parties on SALT is not new, despite the fact that repealing the deductions cap is popular across party lines.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul noted Trump and Republicans are the ones who limited SALT deductions in the first place.
“Their policies have done nothing but take money out of the pockets of hardworking New Yorkers,” Hochul said in a statement. “Don’t fall for more of Trump’s lies.”
But Republicans have also blamed Democrats for stonewalling attempts at reform.
The alliance to repeal the SALT cap has been somewhat formalized through the self-appointed congressional “SALT Caucus,” co-chaired by Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey alongside fellow Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi and Republican Rep. Andrew Garbarino, both of Long Island. California Rep. Young Kim, a Republican, is also a co-chair.
Gottheimer has spent years railing against the SALT cap — and said in a statement that Trump “sounds like the arsonist volunteering at the fire department.”
“President Trump gutted SALT and raised taxes on hardworking middle-class Jersey families,” Gottheimer said. “Now he wants to fix the problem he caused? And without any specifics?”
But Rep. Anthony D’Esposito of Long Island, who represents another suburban swing district in New York, is among those welcoming Trump’s call to lift the cap, despite the optics.
“We’ll talk more about this development at President Trump’s rally tomorrow,” D’Esposito said in a social media post on Tuesday.
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=66eb2ffedc99495fa5f2576b4ed95ac2&url=https%3A%2F%2Fgothamist.com%2Fnews%2Ftrumps-new-york-play-bring-back-the-salt-tax-credit-he-gutted-in-2017&c=9732949283615138720&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-09-18 06:07:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
