U.S. House tax chief says state income tax deduction will not remain in the bill, screw middle class

[MyNameIsKhan]

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-brady/u-s-house-tax-chief-says-state-income-tax-deduction-will-not-remain-idUSKBN1D025L

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican tax legislation due to be released this week in the U.S. House of Representatives will not include a deduction for state and local income taxes, the top House Republican on tax policy said on Tuesday.


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Asked if there would be relief on the income side of state and local taxes, Brady replied: “The answer is ‘no.’ ... Our lawmakers in those high-tax states really believe their families are being punished most by property taxes.”

[unblock]

1. families in high *income* tax states are being punished most by *property* taxes. ok, got it.

i wonder if they also believe that families in high *property* tax areas are punished most by *income* taxes.

[haele]

2. Sooo...you're only going to allow deductions of whatever "punishes" the families more...?

Like saying to someone who fell off a ladder -
"Hey, your insurance is going to pay for that nasty looking broken leg, but not your pretty much invisible sprained back that's going to continue to hurt on occasion for the rest of your life - because while you can still work with a painful sprained back, your broken leg is going to make it hard for you to do your job for a few months..."

Not everyone can afford to own a house and pays property taxes - heck, people who don't make enough to pay their property taxes lose their property. A good 40% of individual taxpayers rent or otherwise live with someone else who is the one to pay the property tax and be eligible for "the deduction". And even then, there are other property owners who pay more in state and local income taxes without a refund than they do in property taxes on an annual basis.
Everyone who makes an income beginning at a certain level pays some form of state and local income taxes.

I'd bet that this is a calculated way of ensuring that the balance of tax revenues v. deductions maintains a ratio that ends up being a wash for everyone who isn't part of the top 3% or so.

Haele

[MyNameIsKhan]

3. or housing lobby pressure

[WillowTree]

5. How many people who don't make enough to be able to afford to buy a home.......

.......itemize when they file their taxes? Would be interesting to know.

[haele]

6. People with student loans and large medical bills.

Lyft and Uber drivers. Independent contractors, small agriculture and other small home businesses - especially re-sellers, who get hit hard with State and Local taxes. Property crime victims. People with capital gains and losses.

Not everyone who can afford to buy a home and pay property taxes can or want to buy a home. Or they may be incapable of keeping a home - there's a lot of work that goes into home ownership.

But again, everyone pays state taxes. And last time I looked, the IRS tracked how much I paid in state and local taxes - and if I got a refund, they certainly took their cut...

Haele

[mythology]

7. Student loan interest is deductible without itemizing

[Freethinker65]

4. They will lose house seats in blue states