President Trump said Tuesday he wants tax reform wrapped up by Christmas — while Gov. Andrew Cuomo made yet another desperate plea to retain deductions for all state and local taxes.
“I want the House to pass a bill by Thanksgiving. I want all of the people standing by my side when we get ready to sign by Christmas — hopefully before Christmas,” the president said at the White House while meeting with business leaders on tax reform.
“You will all be in the room standing front row center. We will find a place where you can all stand front row center. It will be the biggest tax event in the history of our country.”
The House version of the bill was expected to be released Wednesday, and the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee said it would not allow deductions for state and local income or sales taxes.
However, the chair, Texas GOP Rep. Kevin Brady, said deductions for property taxes would still be allowed.
Cuomo and other critics of the plan to eliminate the so-called SALT (state and local tax) deduction argue that it would unfairly target high-income, high-tax states like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and California.
“The current proposal primarily uses New York and California as the piggy bank to make it possible to cut taxes for other states,” Cuomo said in a letter to Trump.
“By eliminating or rolling back state and local tax deductibility, Washington is sending a death blow to New York’s middle-class families and our economy.”
Cuomo argued that New York pays $48 billion more in federal taxes a year than it receives in federal funding — and rebuked House Speaker Paul Ryan’s contention that lower-tax states are subsidizing high-tax states through the SALT deductions.
“Speaker Ryan’s only justification is that other states subsidize New York. He is just wrong. They don’t. The opposite is true. New York subsidizes every other state in the nation,” he said.Also Tuesday, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) challenged their states’ governors to cut state taxes if they care so much about their constituents.
“Let’s all work together to lower the tax burden. We’re going to lower federal tax rates, so I call on Gov. [Jerry] Brown, Gov. Cuomo and governors across America to lower taxes in their states as well,” McCarthy said.
Trump warned the business leaders at the White House that there were “forces” trying to undermine his reform efforts for their own selfish ends.
“We need you to be united and committed and proactive in order to overcome the forces fighting, and there are forces fighting out there that very much benefit by the way it is now,” Trump told them, along with members of his cabinet.
“That’s bad for the country. They know that, but they are fighting for themselves.”
Trump appealed to the business leaders to push for his plan.
“The country needs you now more than ever before,” he said. “You are leaders of the country. Certainly leaders on the subject [of tax reform]. You know more about it than anybody.”
Trump also said he opposed a phase-in of the reduction in the business tax rate, which he wants lowered to 20 percent.
With wire services