SALT Deductions

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHNEIDER. Congressman Suozzi, I am grateful for you holding this Special Order. I am grateful for your friendship in Congress and the work we do together on many things, but, in particular, on our efforts to repeal the onerous cap on the SALT deduction.

In 2017, the Trump administration raised taxes for middle-class families in Illinois and across the country by capping the State and Local Tax deduction at $10,000.

The decision was both bad policy and bad politics. Capping the SALT deduction raised the tax burden for Illinois working families and small business owners.

In the 10th District, my district, 42 percent of families rely on the SALT deduction. Statewide in Illinois, one in three taxpayers file using the SALT deduction affected by this cap.

And this deduction is not a tax break on the wealthy. Eighty-five percent of Illinois filers who take the SALT deduction are middle- income individuals and families.

I have heard from constituents, and some of them want to move out of Illinois because their taxes are simply too expensive. I see everything our communities have to offer, from our schools, our parks, our public places, communities that make a difference and make a great place to raise family; and it breaks my heart that someone would choose not to live in the 10th District just because of an unfair decision made to increase the tax burden to punish States like Illinois.

The SALT cap also makes it harder for our cities to provide essential services, like police departments, fire services, fire protection services, libraries and public health. These services and the workers performing them are the backbones of our community. The pandemic has already strained their budgets, and we do not need to strain them any further.

Finally, it is no accident which States are most affected by the SALT cap. These are the States most affected: Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and California.

These States have made the decision to invest in their communities, to invest in their people. They have invested in their children, their schools, their infrastructure. We should not be double-taxed just because we have decided that we want to continue to pay to make our communities stronger.

Reinstating the full SALT deduction is a decision about fairness and responsibility. A Federal tax on income already paid to State and local governments is, quite simply, double taxation. We have the responsibility to stand up for our families, our small businesses, and our communities.

We need a tax system that is fair, lifts our Nation, and gives our children the future that we all want them to have. It is critical that we reinstate the full SALT deduction and reduce the tax burden for middle-class families across the country.

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Mr. SCHNEIDER. Absolutely. As you know, when the income tax was put in place more than 100 years ago, it was a decision that communities, that States that decided to invest in their people, would not be double taxed.

Yet, in 2017, the decision of the Republicans was to specifically attack these States, these blue States like Illinois and New York. It is unfair to these communities that are investing in schools, public services, fire departments, police departments, making the decision to responsibly pay for them, and then have their residents told they have to pay a second time with the Federal tax.

To add on top of that, these are the States, like New York and Illinois, who pay more to the Federal Government than they get back. So not only are we getting double taxed, we have a burden of subsidizing the States that are attacking us now.

So this is absolutely unfair. It is unfair to the States. But, more importantly, it is unfair to the families we represent.

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