Schumer unveils plan to restore Long Island homeowners' full SALT tax deduction in upcoming, "COVID-4' coronavirus response legislation; the harmful cap on the deduction is costing LI'ers tens-of-thousands of dollars & they need that money now, more than ever

Statement

Citing the dire need to deliver meaningful coronavirus financial relief to Long Island homeowners amid the unprecedented pandemic, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer unveiled a plan to restore Long Island's FULL State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction today. Standing alongside Rep. Tom Suozzi, who was able to restore the SALT deduction for 2020 and 2021 in the House via the last stimulus effort, and Long Island families feeling the impact of this LI-targeted, needless tax burden, Schumer detailed how the SALT deduction cap is crushing the Island and its middle class families harder than most other areas. Schumer said Long Island homeowners need this money right now as he announced his intention to add the restoration of the SALT deduction to the upcoming COVID-4 stimulus now in negotiation.

"When it comes to SALT, if you think Long Islanders needed and deserved this money before the coronavirus took hold, the stakes are even higher now because the cap is costing this community tens-of-thousands of dollars they could be using amid the crisis," said U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. "That is why I am announcing, I will push to insert language the House passed, and Rep. Suozzi here authored, to restore our full SALT deduction in the upcoming coronavirus legislation under negotiation right now. We need to bring our federal dollars back home and cushion the blow this virus--and this harmful SALT cap--has dealt so many homeowners and families locally."

"The cap on SALT deductions has been a body blow to NY families," said Congressman Suozzi. "The full SALT deduction must be restored. Without the full SALT deduction families will leave NY and the last thing we need in the midst of the health and economic devastation of Coronavirus is to lose our residents and taxpayers. Senator Schumer is once again demonstrating how he always fights for Long Island and NY families."

Schumer acknowledged, albeit an uphill fight given the opposition of U.S. Senate Leader McConnell, that this plan is the best chance we have had in a while to fix the unfairness of this law, restore the deduction and put an average of about $20,000 across almost 700,000 households back into the Long Island economy. He explained how unfairly "capping' the SALT deduction took direct aim at nearly half of Long Island's taxpayers who, on average, had claimed $19,886 in full SALT deductions. Nationwide, approximately 44 million Americans once took advantage of this full deduction.

At a House Ways and Means Committee hearing last year, which focused on the impact of the 2017 Republican tax law that capped the state and local tax (SALT) deduction at $10,000, Rep. Suozzi detailed why limiting the SALT deduction is unfair to Long Island. Today, he and Schumer reiterated some of those points on the Island:

-New Yorkers already subsidize other states by paying $36-45 billion more in taxes than we receive back from the federal government;
-The repeal of the SALT deduction results in double taxation by imposing federal taxes on the income used to pay state and local taxes;
-The elimination of the deduction drives wealthier people to other states and leaves middle- and lower-income taxpayers holding the bag to pay for school, police and other essential state and local tax burdens.

Schumer also detailed the average SALT deduction prior to the GOP tax reform bill that passed in 2017 and imposed the harmful cap. The data shows just how critical the full deduction was to Long Island homeowners.

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