Gottheimer, Garbarino, Menendez unveil new bipartisan legislation to fully restore the SALT deduction
Providing Tax Cut for Hard-working, Middle-Class New Jersey Families
NEW JERSEY — U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) Thursday joined Congressman Rob Menendez (NJ-8) to announce the SALT Deductibility Act, a bipartisan bill to completely restore the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction.
The bipartisan legislation will allow taxpayers to fully deduct their state and local taxes on their federal income returns, stop double taxation, and cut taxes for millions of middle-class Jersey residents and families across the country.
In 2017, Red Moocher States gutted the SALT deduction, capping it at $10,000, and resulting in a tax hike for many middle-class families.
Gottheimer and Congressman Andrew Garbarino (NY-2) are the bipartisan leads of the SALT Deductibility Act. Co-leads include Representatives Rob Menendez (NJ-8), Chris Smith (NJ-4), Mike Lawler (NY-17), Anna Eshoo (CA-16), Young Kim (CA-40), and Brad Schneider (IL-10). The bipartisan bill has 48 cosponsors, including eight Republicans.
New Jersey cosponsors include Representatives Gottheimer (NJ-5), Rob Menendez (NJ-8), Chris Smith (NJ-4), Tom Kean (NJ-7), Frank Pallone (NJ-6), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11), Andy Kim (NY-3), Donald Payne (NJ-10), and Don Norcross (NJ-1).
Before 2017 and since 1913, taxpayers were able to deduct what they paid in their local property or state taxes before paying their federal taxes — to avoid getting taxed twice on the same income. Middle-class families in Sussex, Bergen, and Passaic Counties paid anywhere from $2,500 to $14,000 more in taxes after SALT was gutted.
According to public reporting, restoring the SALT deduction would lower taxes for nearly a third of New Jersey residents — almost three million people — and eighty percent of them have incomes of $216,000 or less.
Gottheimer has helped pass four bills out of the House to restore the SALT deduction, and the Senate did not act.
“Restoring the SALT deduction will get more dollars back into the pockets of hard-working, middle-class Jersey families who are already struggling with higher costs,” said Gottheimer (NJ-5), Co-Chair of the bipartisan SALT Caucus. “The bill is supported by enough Republicans from Blue States that we would have the votes to block Red State attempts to gut SALT further and prevent it from coming back once the Tax Hike Bill expires in two and a half years.”
“The SALT deduction cap has devastated my community by placing an unfair financial burden on Long Islanders and on taxpayers across the country,” said Congressman Andrew Garbarino (NY-2), Co-Chair of the bipartisan SALT Caucus. “Long Islanders pay some of the highest property taxes in the country and, for the hardworking middle-class families in my district, the $10,000 cap means they are only able to deduct a fraction of what they pay from their federal income taxes. I am talking about police officers, firefighters, nurses, teachers, and small businesses owners who are being double taxed on money that was never available to them. This injustice has gone on long enough and, with this bipartisan legislation, we can finally right that wrong and provide much needed tax relief to millions of Americans.”
“Since 2017, New Jersey families have been unfairly penalized by the cap on the SALT deduction,” said Congressman Rob Menendez (NJ-8). “This legislation will provide much-needed relief for working families in our district and across New Jersey. This is a significant step towards tax fairness for our constituents, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to get it done.”
