Letter to the Hon. Paul Ryan, the Hon. Kevin Brady, the Hon. Mitch McConnell, and the Hon. Orrin Hatch - Final Tax Reform Bill Must Include Provisions Vital To New Yorkers

Letter

Dear Speaker Ryan, Leader McConnell, Chairman Brady, and Chairman Hatch:

As you work to finalize and pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, I urge you to retain provisions that are vital to the communities that I represent, namely, the deductibility of up to $10,000 worth of property taxes, the federal Historic Tax Credit (HTC), and provisions allowing for the deductibility of medical expenses.

In my home state of New York, politicians in Albany have imposed one unfunded mandate after another on local governments. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the property taxes that my constituents pay. A 2013 study from the Brookings Tax Policy Center ranked more than 3,000 counties by their ratio of property tax to home value. All eight of the counties I represent in upstate New York are in the top 36 nationwide. Cortland County comes in at No. 6 and Oswego County at No. 15. But these areas are far from wealthy. To the contrary, average family incomes are well below the national average. That is why I am requesting that the provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that allows for the deductibility of $10,000 of property taxes--a provision that passed both the House and Senate--be maintained in the final bill that comes out of the conference committee.

I would also urge you to retain the 20 percent federal Historic Tax Credit (HTC) that was included in the Senate amendment to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act when the bill is finalized in conference. New York is the number one state to claim the HTC. According to the National Parks Service, New York lead the nation in investment ($831 million) and jobs created (~14,000) as a result of the HTC. The loss of this tax credit would jeopardize current and future projects across my district and the state of New York.

Finally, on behalf of the more than 120,000 seniors that reside in my district, I urge you to maintain the deductibility of medical expenses as the Senate has done. Millions of American households and thousands of my constituents utilize this deduction to defray high medical costs that have largely been driven by Obamacare.

The constituents that I represent desperately need the tax relief that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would deliver, however, the elimination of the SALT compromise, the HTC, and the medical expense deduction would be devastating for individuals and job creators in my district. I again urge you to maintain these provisions so that we can provide my constituents with the tax relief they desperately need.

Sincerely,

Claudia Tenney
MEMBER OF CONGRESS

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