Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of ending the cap on State and Local Tax deductions--better known as the SALT deduction. For more than 100 years, an idea dating back to Abraham Lincoln, the SALT deduction has allowed families to deduct taxes already paid to state and local government from their federal tax returns. Many middle-class Americans benefit from this commonsense tax policy every year. In past years, almost a third of Rhode Islanders have claimed the SALT deductions, including almost 60 percent of people in my district who make between $75-100,000 per year. The destructive 2017 Trump tax cuts, however, imposed a $10,000 cap on SALT deductions, meaning that if a family pays more than $10,000 in state and local taxes, the taxes paid in excess of that $10,000 can no longer be deducted from federal returns raising those families' tax liability significantly. It just doesn't make sense to have Americans, especially middle-class families living in states with high tax rates, pay extra taxes on the taxes they have already paid. Most middle-class Americans living in high tax areas are there so their children can go to high caliber public schools or receive better programs. Many of them made 10, 20, and 30-year investments in home ownership in these high tax areas, relying on the SALT deduction that had been in place for more than 100 years when budgeting for this big expense.…”