boedicca
Uppity Water Nymph from the Land of Funk
- Feb 12, 2007
- 59,439
- 24,109
- 2,290
On my way home from work, I laughed aloud when I heard several Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee, especially Danny Davis (D-IL) and Judy Chu (D-CA), claim that the $10K cap on SALT deductions is a "giveaway to the rich," "ripoff of the middle class," "hurts families," "helps only the rich." I thought to myself, "WHAT??? They can't be serious!" When Republicans replied that high-tax states should lower their taxes rather than expect the rest of the country to subsidize their high taxes, Rep. Davis said, "Oh, come on!" No kidding. Go read the transcript.
Of course, the rich have been hit the hardest by the $10K state-and-local-tax (SALT) deduction cap, since they pay far more than $10K in SALT. Those few middle-income people who pay more than $10K in SALT barely do so, so the deduction impacts them very, very little. In the affluent area of Northern Virginia, where I live, in order to pay just slightly more than $10K in SALT, you have to earn at least $150K and own a home worth over $400K. In order to pay significantly more than $10K in SALT--like $15K in SALT--you must earn at least $200K and own a home worth over $600K.
The House Ways and Means Committee was debating a bill to make the 2017 tax cuts permanent. The Democrats introduced an amendment to revoke the SALT cap and to raise the corporate income rate to 29%! Sheesh, are you kidding me? Of course, luckily, the amendment was easily defeated.
Talk about Gas Lighting their base.
In realityland, upper middle class and rich folks in blue coastal states are hammered due to the cap on State and Local Tax deductions. These are the same people writing the spin that their higher taxes are a Giveaway so that the base will demand that the well off folks get to take the entire deductions again.