Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone has joined lawmakers in the push to restore deductions
on state and local taxes which have impacted middle-class homeowners on Long Island.
Bellone, along with Nassau County Executive Laura Curran and Westchester County Executive George Latimer, announced last week the formation of a regional coalition that will urge Congress to repeal the Trump-era rule that capped deductions at $10,000.
“We’re sending a message to Washington, D.C., that we need to get this done,” Bellone said at a press conference last Thursday. “We’re going to do everything we can to keep the pressure up.”
The Suburban Coalition is expected to contact fellow county executives from upstate New York to push for the removal of the $10,000 cap, Bellone said.
“The reversal of this policy is about fairness and about making sure that people understand that if they’ve gotten the single-biggest tax increase they’ve ever seen by this action... it needs to be reversed,” Bellone said.
Curran called the cap on SALT deductions a “gut-punch” for New Yorkers. “It essentially amounts to double taxation, the fact that we are being taxed on our taxes,” she said.
Momentum is growing to restore the deduction. The Suburban Coalition builds on the recent creation of Congress’ bipartisan SALT coalition, which also aims to educate the public and restore the SALT deduction.
Congressman Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) is a co-chair and founder of the bipartisan SALT Caucus, aimed at educating the public on SALT deductions. Since last week, the caucus has garnered about 30 members from both parties.
“The average property tax bill on my block in Bayport is $15,000 a year,” Garbarino said, “so, losing that deduction really hurts a lot of people.”
Garbarino said he hopes the modifications are made as soon as possible, prior to the completion of President Joe Biden’s sweeping infrastructure bill.
“This needs to get done as soon as possible,” he said. “This gives people security and could determine if they leave New York State.”
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