AOC calls SALT deduction a 'gift to billionaires,' opposes effort to hold up infrastructure bill

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: Business Insider

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known as "AOC," is breaking with members of her party who want to undo a major part of Trump's 2017 tax cut, accusing them of favoring an unequivocal "giveaway to the rich."

That would be the federal cap on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, which some Democrats in high-income-tax states have been working to roll back for four years now.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for example, calls the cap on the SALT deduction "mean-spirited" and "politically targeted," arguing that former President Donald Trump's White House designed this policy to hurt the wealthy in blue states, in particular. Others even want to hold up one of President Joe Biden's top legislative priorities if they don't get their way. That would be the $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan Biden unveiled this month, the first of a two-part package, which he would like to fund with tax revenue rather than deficit-finance.

"I don't think we should be holding the infrastructure package hostage for a 100% repeal of SALT," Ocasio-Cortez told Huff Post's Igor Bobic, according to a pool report. "I think we can have a conversation about the policy, but it's a bit of an extreme position, to be frank."

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/aoc-calls-salt-deduction-a-gift-to-billionaires-opposes-effort-to-hold-up-infrastructure-bill/ar-BB1fHhy2?li=BBnb7Kz

[LonePirate]

1. Removing the cap is a gift to billionaires. Maybe raise but definitely do not remove it.

[Dream Girl]

16. I am nowhere close to a billionaire, millionaire or any other aire. I am a middle class homeowner

Living in a very expensive part of the country. Removing that deduction had a real impact on us.

[LonePirate]

21. That's why I said raise the cap but do not remove it.

I will leave it to the policy experts to determine what a fairer level is. Maybe it's $30,000. Maybe it's $50,000. I'm not sure what it is but I think a five figure amount is sufficient; but there's no reason to push it to the six figure level.

[aquamarina]

2. This middle of the income individual begs to differ.

The SALT deduction hurt many more middle income people than billionaires. It was the primary reason that every republican House of Rep in Orange County, CA lost his job in 2018. Yes, there are a lot of obscenely rich people in Orange County but the vast majority of them are just your average joes and josephines. Home prices are ridiculous and taking away this tax break hurt a lot of people. It was especially hard hitting on people who were recent home buyers - the early years when most of a mortgage payment goes towards interest. Just my $0.02. I like AOC very much but I do not agree with her on this.

[jimfields33]

3. I'd agree except they doubled the standard deduction which more then

make up for the SALT. Married get 24.4K immediately off their taxes. Single gets 12K. That has saved many from some taxes.

[NutmegYankee]

4. As a single Homeowner in Connecticut, no, it didn't.

And I live in a poor town.

[George II]

8. Bingo! That cap hurt us (also in Connecticut) quite a bit. And forget it if you have even....

....moderate medical expenses.

That increased standard deduction (only by 80%, not doubled) didn't cover our real estate and income taxes or our medical deductions.

[JohnSJ]

17. Also in California. Gee, one has to wonder if they were targeting blue states who are hurt the most

by this

[aquamarina]

5. Not if you are single and your annual mortgage interest is more than 12k a year.

[George II]

6. No, doubling the standard deduction (actually it only went up 80%, not 100%) affected more than....

....state and local income tax deductions. It also eliminated the deduction of local property/real estate taxes AND, most importantly for many, medical expense deductions.

The overall effect of the "double" standard deduction for us reduced our deductions by several thousand dollars.

[Wuddles440]

9. Sorry...

but the elimination of the Personal Exemptions ($4150 per person in 2018) essentially negated the increasing of the Standard Deduction. This was another sleight-of-hand by the GOPpers and their enablers to make their windfall tax cuts for the billionaires and corporations appear more palatable to the common Joes. The capping of the SALT was purely structured to primarily penalize residents of Blue states (although it resulted in many residents of Red states becoming collateral damage). You may want to check what your actual effective tax rate was both prior to and after the GOPpers' tax scam. Some common folks benefited but most did not. Personally I got crushed. Never, EVER trust the GOPpers with tax policy!

[JohnSJ]

20. Exactly, and that personal exemption was 8200 for married

[caber09]

11. Umm from this middle class home owner in NY it didn't help

AOC is completely wrong again on this issue..my middle clsss district two districts over from her want salt repealed...which makes her even more toxic outside her own district. Trumps salt bs really hurt here in NY, bad move by her to be against this.

[eilen]

24. With that position, she has no future in the Senate

Nor White House. She is popular where it pays to be populist-- among renters in her district in NYC.

[pnwmom]

12. That didn't do nearly enough to take care of the problem in high tax states. n/t

[Deminpenn]

22. Only until 2025

nt

[crimycarny]

10. Ditto!

SALT definitely hurt our family. We live in the Sacramento area, not super ritzy by any means. Plus I just don’t like the idea of being taxed TWICE! Repeal it.

[Lonestarblue]

13. Agree. I'm certainly not wealthy, but I have high interest payments and high property taxes.

That translates to higher taxes because some of my former deductions no longer count. A lot of people are not wealthy have this situation.

[George II]

7. Oy vey, I'm not a billionaire and eliminating the cap would help quite a bit.

[RandySF]

14. Lifting the cap benefits middle class families in higher tax state....like New York

[DFW]

15. There are less than 700 billionaires in the USA

Lifting the cap would help out middle class people in high tax blue states (funny how people like to live in states where Democrats are in the majority), so, what? Thirty million families? Forty million?

They need to get squeezed so we can show how we socked it to a few hundred rich people? Just whom are we trying to impress here?

[George II]

26. They get the word "billionaire" hammered into their heads and think there's a huge group....

....of people out there with billions of dollars.

So we're going to keep punishing all those other millions of people for less than 700 (actually as of Oct 2020, 6 months ago, there were "only" 614 billionaires) in the artificially named "billionaire class"?

They're creating their own "class warfare" and killing off tens of thousands of their own "soldiers" in order to defeat those 614 of the "enemy".

Oh how I hope Rana Abdelhamid picks up on this and runs with it. She's challenging Carolyn Maloney to become the Representative for the richest District in the country.

[lostnfound]

18. Love AOC, she is wrong on this one

I bought a house that was a big stretch in a high income tax state, expecting to keep it 6 years.
This change in tax code was NOT on the radar when I did the math on this mortgage.
Would not have bought it if I had known.
Double-taxed on major portion of income, and house value also plummeted because of it.
Rewriting the rules on something so big wasn’t fair.

[brooklynite]

19. Another reason she'll never be a NY Senator...

[eilen]

25. Exactly. I don't think Chuck has anything to worry about from her

nor Gillibrand although Gillibrand could be legit challenged by a different politician (not AOC) but maybe a former mayor of an upstate city or former Congress person-- like perhaps Brindisi or even Bloomberg if he had senatorial aspirations.

[Dream Girl]

27. She's a bit simple minded. She has a lotto learn.

[ZonkerHarris]

23. we are not rich. this hurt us. Trump fucked us over to hurt blue state voters

needs to be undone.

[mainer]

28. Blue state taxpayers are paying taxes on ALREADY TAXED money

The same money they've already lost to state taxes is taxed again by the feds. That's being taxed on money you don't even have.

[ripcord]

29. I have never understood the SALT deducation

If a state chooses higher tax rates that is between that state and their residents, it has nothing to do with the federal government and other states shouldn't be subsidizing their tax rates.

[brooklynite]

30. By that measure, you shouldn't be able to deduct mortgages or property taxes...

nobody MADE you buy a house, right?

As for "other states shouldn't be subsidizing their tax rates", the States with LOW taxes are the States unable or unwilling to pay for the needs of their citizens, who rely on Federal contributions. The tax revenue for those programs tends to come from the High Tax states.

[ripcord]

31. I think all deductions should be done away with

If people can't do their taxes with junior high math the system is a failure, we should pay a flat rate based on income level.

[brooklynite]

32. So, to meet the revenue needs of the Biden infrastructure plan, you and I should pay the same rate?

Because right now, I pay the top marginal rate. Do you want to lower my tax rate or raise yours?

[ripcord]

33. Did you miss the based on income level part of my post?