Posted on 07/17/2018 10:04:12 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
ALBANY — Seven months after making the legal threat, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Tuesday that New York has joined three other states to sue the federal government over new tax limits on state and local deductions on next year’s federal tax forms.
The lawsuit will be filed today in federal court in Manhattan and will feature an expedited hearing request by New York State, Connecticut, New Jersey and Maryland.
Cuomo, in a phone call with reporters in which he cited words by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and Abraham Lincoln, called the new federal tax law “un-American” and one that targets states with high numbers of registered Democratic voters, such as New York.
"This is their political attempt to hurt Democratic states. It is totally repugnant and hypocritical of the fundamental conservative ideology which they preach," Cuomo said of President Trump and congressional Republicans who pushed through the new tax laws and a $10,000 limit on deductions of state and local tax, known as SALT, in the partisan tax fight.
While the federal law also sharply increases the standard deduction, thereby making up for the SALT limits for many taxpayers, some New Yorkers — especially those with higher incomes and high property taxes, such as downstate property owners — will feel a tax pinch next year.
Cuomo has said the federal tax law will make New York less competitive than other states, which itself is illegal, he maintained Tuesday. "It was politically motivated and it was politically targeted," Cuomo said of the tax law’s SALT limits.
Republicans in Washington in the past had little sympathy for criticisms from Cuomo and some other Democratic governors. They have said states like New York are being hurt because of New York politicians' inability to control state and local spending — which has made state income and property taxes so relatively high in the Empire State.
To try to work around the problem, New York enacted several provisions earlier this year that could help some taxpayers. Under one scheme, some New Yorkers could make a charitable donation to a school-related entity, thereby reducing their property tax liability by a like amount. The charitable donation would be fully deductible on federal taxes next year. The Internal Revenue Service has warned it will examine whether such work-arounds are legal.
Cuomo’s tax department earlier this year estimated that the SALT limits will lead to a $14.3 billion tax hike for New Yorkers in the 2018 tax year.
“New York will not be bullied. This cap is unconstitutional — going well beyond settled limits on federal power to impose an income tax while deliberately targeting New York and similar states in an attempt to coerce us into changing our fiscal policies and the vital programs they support," said New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood, whose office is filing the lawsuit.
ETC...
blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa
The ignorance, the ignorance, the ignorance...
Stop it! It hurts.
I would suggest to all Democrats that it is their greed that is un-American and unpatriotic, rather than the president’s goal of letting Americans decide for themselves where their money should be spent. No government has EVER spent my money as wisely as I have.
CUOMO is hell bent on Destroying America!
Wait. I thought liberals loved taxes. The hypocrisy. it burns.
I’m not sure that states have standing in this. Only the SC can declare an act of congress unconstitutional. “Un American” is not a legal standard.
Says the guy whose state has lost almost half its Congressional districts over the last 60 years, due in large part to skyrocketing taxes.
Ping.
Cuomo, I so hope you run for prez.
Trump will beat you like a rug over what you’ve done to NYS, especially Upstate.
As an attorney who practiced as a CPA for a lot of years, I can tell you that this suit will get tossed out of court very quickly. It is being filed for purposes of political grandstanding.
The federal government taxes ALL of the income of every single citizen and permanent resident. After that, it is at the discretion of the federal government (as embodied in laws, passed in the same fashion as any other laws) whether or not someone, or some entity, is allowed to deduct certain expenses - and when (or if) those deductions are to phase out. So long as every person in identical circumstances is treated equally, the law is valid (not necessarily good, mind you, just VALID).
That this law has the effect of denying a higher percentage of taxpayers in, say, New York vs. a state like Texas (which has no income tax at all), is just that - an effect. One can argue all that one wants to that this was done on purpose to “punish” people that didn’t vote for the President, or for the party in power in Congress, but it is just that - an argument. It will not be a persuasive one, because someone in Texas with the same income and the same amount of deductions will pay the same tax as their economic mirror-image in New York. Thus, there is no discrimination of any kind based on place of residency, and the law is fully constitutional.
If NYers don’t like the law, then they should elect representatives to pass a new law that changes things back to the way they like it. That’s how our system works; it is not powered or ruled by emotion or by rage.
In the meantime, I shall enjoy their rage to the greatest extent possible!
He cites people who would have almost surely all agreed that the income tax itself is unconstitutional. That said, Cuomo and his ilk have no problem writing tax laws to punish certain groups if it’s the top 1%. Hypocrite.
This would be a pretty clear case for anyone other than a ninth circuit judge. If you "donate" money to a charity and get something of value back it isn't a deductible contribution.
I live in a completely blue state, but I am 100% on board with Trump’s change in the tax law.
100%.
Do I have to pay more taxes? Sure. But the principle is absolutely correct.
They will find a judge...
I have long believed Texans subsidize the federal income tax payers of high tax states. I was thrilled to see SALT deductions capped at $10k.
Andrew, I suggest you read the 16th amendment sometime. The federal govt can make policy here. Have you ever thought of cutting socialism and taxes?
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