Politics & Government

House Tax Reform Bill Passes, Local Reps React: UPDATE

Faso took issue with Democrats' opinion on how the bill will affect 19th district taxpayers.

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — The House version of the tax reform bill passed Thursday 227 to 205. All House Democrats votes against the legislation. They were joined by 13 Republicans, including Rep. John Faso, of the 19th District.

Four Republican congress members — Claudia Tenney, 22nd District, Tom Reed, 23rd District, John Katko, 24th District, and Chris Collins, 27th District — voted in favor of the bill.

Faso had earlier announced that he vote against the bill (see below).

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Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Harrison, call the tax bill a “scam.”

“In voting to pass this bill, the vast majority of House Republicans approved a tax increase for millions of middle-class New Yorkers. This bill is a disaster for New York, and I will do everything I can to stop it,” she said.

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Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-Cold Spring, said, “Any tax plan is about choices. In this case, these guys have chosen a tax cut for very very rich people and huge corporations but a tax hike for middle class families and small businesses. They've chosen to punish New Yorkers by whacking your state and local tax deduction. They’ve chosen to hurt seniors by cutting Medicare. And they’ve chosen to be wildly irresponsible by blowing a $1.7 trillion hole in the deficit for no good reason. I'm all for cutting taxes, but the choices Paul Ryan and Republicans in Congress made when writing this dumpster fire show you that this plan has nothing to do with helping regular working people."

Maloney said he tax bill will curtail or eliminate nearly all existing deductions and double the standard deduction.

“One of the most serious concerns for New Yorkers is the partial elimination of state and local income and sales tax deductions and a cap on state and local property tax deductions. The bill was written in secret by lobbyists and a small handful of Republicans. It’s unusual for such sweeping legislation to be rushed through Congress in a three week window. The Senate is crafting its own tax plan which calls for the complete elimination of state and local tax deductions,” he said.


MID-HUDSON VALLEY, NY — If proposed House tax bill comes up for a vote Thursday as scheduled, there will be at least no Republican voting no. Rep. John Faso, R-Kinderhook, announced he would not support the tax reform legislation in its current form.

“There is no question that the federal tax code — with more than 70,000 pages of regulations — is broken,” Faso said. “It is unfair to hardworking taxpayers, contains too many loopholes for special interests and is hampering the growth of our economy and ability of American workers to compete in the global economy.”

He said he has consistently stated that his goals for tax reform are to increase economic growth, have workers get more pay, give small business investment incentives and ensure New York families are better off.

“Unfortunately, I do not believe the current tax bill being considered by the House meets all of these goals,” Faso said. “As such, I will vote no when the bill is considered in the House of Representatives [Thursday].”

He said the complete elimination of the state income tax deduction and the limits place on local property tax deductions will hurt New Yorkers more severely than taxpayers in other states.

Faso said the fact that corporations and other businesses will keep full deductibility will benefit states like Texas which rely more heavily on corporate taxes.

He also took issue with comments by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Senator Charles Schumer that the tax bill will not help most middle income taxpayers in his district.

Faso said most middle income taxpayers in the 19th Congressional District will receive a tax cut under the legislation.

“However the statewide impact of the proposal will dramatically an negatively impact state revenues as wealthier taxpayers and their businesses flee New York State to lower taxed jurisdictions,” he said.

The House is schedule to vote on the tax reform bill Thursday. The Senate is working on its own version.

Photo credit: faso.house.gov.


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