NEW YORK / WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Congressman Tom Suozzi (D – Long Island, Queens), who was nicknamed “Mr. Salt” by Crain’s New York Business for “his single-minded devotion to the issue,” has again been named a Co-Chair of the House SALT Caucus. SALT stands for the state and local tax deduction. The group is dedicated to relief from the $10,000 limit on the federal deduction for state and local taxes that was passed in 2017.
“I have four priorities in Congress: 1) bring ‘order to the border,’ 2) bring money back to the district, 3) try and heal some of the partisan divides, and 4) restore the SALT deduction,” said Suozzi.
The Congressman warned that the biggest battle for SALT restoration is yet to come. The 2017 bill that capped the SALT deduction at $10,000 is set to expire next year, in 2025.
Suozzi warned that President Trump and the Republican majority threaten to eliminate the SALT deduction entirely if they take control. We must start preparing now to reinstate the entire SALT deduction.
The cap on SALT deduction was “a punch in the gut” and “double taxation” for Long Island and Queens residents. Suozzi reminded us that SALT has been a staple of the federal tax code for more than 100 years.
“It was one of the original federal tax deductions when the income tax was first established in 1913. Congress realized that it was inherently unfair to penalize Americans by requiring them to pay taxes on taxes they had already paid,” Suozzi explained.
Since the summer of 2017, when Republicans first floated the idea that their new tax reform bill would cap the SALT deduction, Tom Suozzi has taken the lead in protecting and preserving it in the House of Representatives.
During the last several years, because of his persistence, the House passed, with bipartisan support, three separate Suozzi bills to restore the SALT deduction. Unfortunately, the bills were always blocked by Republicans in the Senate.
Suozzi returns to Co-Chair the caucus he first formed in April 2021 with Democrat Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), Republican Michele Steel (CA-48), Republican Andrew Garbarino (NY-2), and 29 other bipartisan members.
Suozzi left Congress at the end of the last session, 2022, and returned after winning last February’s special election to replace the expelled George Santos in the 3rd congressional district.
“I will not rest until this unfair burden on New Yorkers is removed and the SALT deduction is restored,” he said.
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