Restoring Tax Fairness for States and Localities Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SUOZZI. Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Thompson, Chairman Neal, and Bill Pascrell for all of their hard work. I thank Peter King, my Republican colleague from Long Island who is retiring next year, who is standing up for his constituents, as he always has. I thank the 50 cosponsors of this bill, bipartisan cosponsors, who realize that we have to be, as someone mentioned before, intellectually honest.

We need to be intellectually honest and recognize, number one, that 100 percent of this bill is paid for by the wealthiest Americans. One hundred percent of this bill is paid for by taxpayers who make over $440,000 a year. It is inaccurate to suggest that other people are subsidizing this other than the wealthy. This is being paid for 100 percent by the wealthy.

This is called the Restoring Tax Fairness for States and Localities Act. That name is exactly what this is about: restoring fairness.

It is not fair. It is not fair that people are paying taxes on taxes they have already paid. It is not fair to State and local municipalities that relied on this tax deduction since the beginning of the tax code in 1913 that are now getting a punch in the gut and trying to change the rules.

There is a reason that this has been endorsed by so many different groups. It has been endorsed by teachers. It has been endorsed by firefighters, by police officers.

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Mr. SUOZZI. Madam Speaker, it has been endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. It has been endorsed by the National League of Cities, endorsed by the National Association of Counties.

It is not fair, Madam Speaker, that my colleagues on the other side are boasting that people are leaving places like my State and moving to their States.

What happens? The people who are left behind, low-and moderate-income people who can't afford to move away, get left behind holding the bag.

My State and so many other States that are hurt by this existing GOP tax cut are subsidizing the other States in this Nation. My State sends $48 billion a year more to the Federal Government than we get back.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to please support this.

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