Business Council statement on House Tax reform plan Benefits to business offset by changes to SALT deduction.

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02
Nov
2017

ALBANY, N.Y.—"The Business Council is a strong supporter of comprehensive federal tax reform. In order to ensure fairness and American competitiveness, it is vital that we simplify the tax code and reduce our corporate tax rate. The House plan, as reported, is an important first step to achieving necessary reform. While we appreciate that the current bill recognizes the importance of retaining the federal deduction for real property taxes, we urge our House and Senate members to continue to push for retention of the full State and Local Tax deduction (SALT). This longstanding provision of the federal tax code prevents filers from being double-taxed. Importantly, it does not lead to other states subsidizing New York. In fact, the opposite is true. As Senator Patrick Moynihan’s original groundbreaking 1977 report on taxation inequities first pointed out, New York businesses and residents send far more in taxes to the federal government than we receive. A recent report by the Rockefeller Institute found that in 2015 New York State contributed $48 billion more in taxes than we got back from the federal government. This funding disparity will only be exacerbated by the proposed changes to SALT. We remain hopeful that our state’s representatives, led by Ways and Means Committee member, Rep. Tom Reed; the dean of our state’s Republican delegation, Rep. Peter King; and the rest of the members of the majority party, will fight to ensure the final bill keeps SALT in place, while at the same time making much-needed reforms to our nation’s antiquated tax code.”

This statement is attributed to Heather C. Briccetti, Esq., president and CEO of The Business Council of New York State, Inc.