Schumer seeks full restoration of SALT deduction for upstate homeowners
Press Release, U.S. Charles Schumer
Following the issuance of new IRS rules that would undermine a critical tax deduction on which New York homeowners rely, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer is moving forward with an effort to restore New York State’s ability to work-around the part of the federal tax law that takes an unfair aim at the state by eliminating a homeowners’ SALT tax deduction, costing them tens-of-thousands of dollars.
(Editor’s Note: In Orleans County, 3,900 homeowners claimed an average SALT deduction of $9,000 in their 2016 taxes, according to the National Association of Counties.)
Schumer explained that just as New York State was tying the bow on its workaround plan by passing a law that circumvented the feds, the IRS swooped in and used regulations to squash everything, adding insult to injury for local homeowners.
Therefore, Schumer announced that he will use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) tool to force a vote on the Senate floor this week, on a resolution to nullify recent IRS rules blocking critical state workarounds to harmful state and local tax (SALT) deduction caps, and that restores New York’s ability to work around the harmful caps, allowing homeowners to again fully retain their SALT deduction.
While the IRS blocked New York’s workaround for families, the Treasury Department in September 2018 issued guidance that allowed businesses to continue to benefit from these same workarounds. Reversing the IRS’s harmful rule will also preserve the ability of states to maintain their own local charitable deductions for education, childcare and non-profits serving children, rural hospitals, environmental conservation, and more.
“As if the Trump-Republican tax bill—which has spiked tax payments for countless New York homeowners by eliminating the SALT deduction—wasn’t already bad enough, these new IRS rules add insult to injury. They are rubbing salt in the New York homeowners’ SALT-inflicted wounds,” said Senator Schumer. “Taking away the SALT deduction was brutally unfair to Upstate homeowners and hit ‘em right between the eyes and that’s why later this week, I plan to take control of the Senate floor and force a vote to nullify the IRS’s horrible rule and put power back in the hands of Upstate New York homeowners to soften the blow of the elimination of SALT deductions. New York’s hard-working homeowners shouldn’t be forced to bear the burden of the political games that target and punish specific regions of the nation.”
Schumer explained that he can use the special legislative power, provided for under the Congressional Review Act, in an attempt to nullify the recent IRS decision that blocks New York State from working around the provision in the federal tax law that strips New York homeowners from claiming their full SALT tax deduction. The disapproval resolution under the CRA gives Congress the power to expeditiously review any new federal regulation, like the recent IRS decision that hurts Upstate New York, so long as the CRA disapproval resolution is filed within 60 legislative days of the regulation being finalized. Schumer said the use of the CRA power is comparable to declaring a policy emergency, and when it comes to the SALT deduction in New York State, the issue is serious.
