LaLota, Garbarino, D'Esposito Fight to Restore SALT Deduction

By Heather Crosley

Amid the tension of last week's US national debt negotiations between President Joe Biden and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Long Island's three Republican US Congressmen - Anthony D’Esposito (R-Hempstead); Nick LaLota (R-Huntington); and Andrew Garbarino (R-Islip) - fought to give local homeowners some property tax relief as part of the deal.

During the presidency of Donald Trump, the State and Local Tax deduction (SALT) was "capped" at $10,000 - meaning that a homeowner who pays $15,000 in local property taxes and $8,000 in state income tax could deduct only $10,000 - not the full $23,000 as under the prior law. The Trump "tax cut" was really a "tax increase" on middle-class suburban homeowners, who often saw a huge hike in their federal taxes.

During negotiations leading up to the Fiscal Responsibility Act, LaLota, Garbarino and D'Esposito filed an amendment to the bipartisan debt deal.

Their proposed amendment -- Section 252 -- would raise the cap on SALT deductions on federal tax returns to $60,000 for single filers and $120,000 for joint filers until January 1, 2033. In other words, the vast majority of suburban homeowners could fully deduct their state and local taxes.

Unfortunately Joe Biden and his team said "No" to any deal that included SALT relief for suburban homeowners - and Biden was willing to risk a US debt default to get his way.

The "Fiscal Responsibility Act" that passed the Congress did not contain section 252, the amendment proposed by LaLota, Garbarino and D'Esposito.

But LaLota, D'Esposito and Garbarino are not giving-up.

According to several sources, they secured a firm pledge from Speaker McCarthy to include SALT relief for suburban homeowners in the next round of federal budget negotiations.