Rep. Mondaire Jones Introduces Bill to Bring Tax Relief to Westchester and Rockland

By: Jennifer Korn

On Friday, Jan. 19, Congressman Mondaire Jones (D) took a big step toward fulfilling one of his campaign promises. Jones introduced the SALT Deductibility Act, a bill that would provide tax relief for Rockland and Westchester families and remove former president Donald Trump’s $10,000 cap on the State and Local Tax (SALT) Deduction.

“Donald Trump cut taxes for billionaires and big corporations and paid for it on the backs of hardworking families in Westchester and Rockland Counties, where we pay the highest property taxes in the entire nation,” said Jones. “That must change. Restoring the SALT deduction is a necessary first step to creating an equitable tax system – one where we put money back in the pockets of working people.”

In addition to removing the $10,000 cap, the SALT Deductibility Act would also allow New York residents to fully deduct their state and local taxes from their federal taxes, and bring direct relief to Jones’ constituents, who pay the highest property taxes of any Congressional District in the nation. 

Several U.S. and NYS Senators voiced their support of Jones’ proposal. 

“When it comes to SALT, if you think Westchester and Rockland families needed and deserved this money before the coronavirus took hold, the stakes are even higher now because the cap is costing this community tens-of-thousands of dollars they could be using amid the crisis,” said U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer. “That is why I am proud to work with Congressman Jones to restore our full SALT deduction in this Congress. Double taxing hardworking homeowners is plainly unfair; We need to bring our federal dollars back home to the to [sic] cushion the blow this virus—and this harmful SALT cap—has dealt so many homeowners and families locally.”

NYS Senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnick (D) also supports the proposal. “At the same time Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans were handing out hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts to the rich and big corporations they put in place this cap that costs the middle class families of my district thousands of dollars a year,” said Reichlin-Melnick. “I applaud Congressman Jones for taking action to undo this attack on New York families.”

The average deduction taken in New York’s 17th Congressional District was $26,243 prior to the cap. 45 percent of residents use the SALT deduction.