Gottheimer fights against red ‘Moocher States’ to restore SALT deduction and lower taxes
Launches a SALT comment portal, asking Jersey residents to share why SALT matters to them, their businesses, and their communities
NEW JERSEY — U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) Monday announced a new effort to fight back against red “Moocher States” attempting to extend the SALT cap and raise taxes on Jersey families.
Gottheimer launched a new comment portal on the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction and urged North Jersey residents to submit their feedback on SALT’s importance. Gottheimer, Co-Chair of the bipartisan SALT Caucus, has worked around-the-clock to lower taxes for Jersey families and restore the SALT deduction, ahead of the 2017 Tax Hike Bill’s expiration in fifteen months.
In 2017, Red State Moochers jammed through the Tax Hike Bill, which capped the SALT deduction at $10,000. Since the cap was instituted, Gottheimer and his colleagues on both sides of the aisle have passed four bills through the House to restore the SALT deduction. Ahead of the Tax Hike Bill’s expiration in 2025, Gottheimer is developing a plan to restore SALT and he needs Jersey residents’ feedback to help underscore the importance of SALT.
Submit a comment here by Oct. 4 on the importance of SALT to you, your family, and your community.
The Importance of the SALT Deduction in North Jersey
- The SALT deduction has been around since 1913, helping Jersey families avoid double taxation for more than a hundred years.
- In 2017, the average SALT deduction taken in New Jersey was $19,000, nearly double the current cap, and $24,000 in Bergen County. The deduction put thousands of dollars back into the pockets of hardworking Jersey’s middle-income families.
- Since the cap was instituted, middle class families in Sussex, Bergen, and Passaic Counties have paid anywhere from $2,500 to $14,000 or more in taxes.
- Because of increased taxes, Jersey ranks 37th in the country for cost of living and eighth in outmigration, with families and businesses citing affordability and taxes as their chief reasons for departing.
- Restoring the SALT deduction will help more than three million Jersey families — a third of the state’s residents, eighty percent of whom make less than $218,000 a year.
“As you know, I never back down from a fight and when it comes to restoring SALT, and getting tax cuts for our hardworking Jersey families, the fight isn’t finished just yet. In fact, the starting gun just went off again – and the fight to restore SALT is back front and center,” Gottheimer said. “Thankfully, we may soon be able to put an end to this SALT nightmare. Please go to my website, ‘Gottheimer.House.Gov/SALT,’ and leave your comments about how the SALT cap has affected you, your family, and your small businesses. We’ll accept comments through October 4, 2024, and make them part of the comprehensive SALT Plan we are preparing to release this fall. I’d love these comments to fill a wheelbarrow, so we can show just how overwhelming a consensus there is behind SALT to those Red Moocher States.”
“This gentleman is a treasure for the state of New Jersey. I’ve known Josh since he first started in Congress, and I’ve seen what he’s done. We have no higher-profile federal legislator in the state than Congressman Gottheimer. He’s done a lot of great things for the state, the country, as the Mayor said, we are, in his opinion, which I wouldn’t disagree with in the greatest city in New Jersey, but this is the greatest state in the country,” said President and CEO of the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce Tom Bracken. “What we do not need is for the federal government to shoot us in the other foot. That’s one of the things the SALT cap does. It penalizes the state. It penalizes the citizens. It drives people and businesses out of the state.”
“Thank you to Congressman Gottheimer. We are so lucky to have him. He is so active, and he cares so much about the state of New Jersey and the people that live here. And then, the next thing that I’m going to talk about is one of the most important things that he’s working on, and it’s something that really affects all of us in a very big way,” said North Jersey Chamber of Commerce President Carol Rausher. “People in North Jersey rely on state and local taxes — and the deduction to make life more affordable. I’m here today to talk about the people that are on a fixed income like myself and people that are going to be on a fixed income. We should be very concerned. They are looking at the money they’re going to have when they retire, and they’re saying, ‘Oh my goodness, look at these taxes in Jew Jersey,’ I can’t live here.”
Gottheimer was joined by Ridgewood Mayor Paul Vagianos, Ridgewood Deputy Mayor Pamela Perron, President and CEO of the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce Tom Bracken, President of North Jersey Chamber of Commerce Carol Rausher, President Fair Lawn Chamber of Commerce Stella Lemberg, and Member of the Fair Lawn Chamber of Commerce Ryan Greff.
