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Rep. Chu Acts to Restore State and Local Tax Deduction

December 11, 2019

Washington, DC — Today, the House Ways and Means Committee held a markup of H.R. 5377, the Restoring Tax Fairness for States and Localities Act of 2019, which reverses the cap on the deduction for state and local taxes (SALT) originally implemented by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27), a member of the Ways and Means Committee and a cosponsor of HR 5377, participated in the markup and issued the following statement:

"When Republicans passed their tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, we warned that the cap on the SALT deduction would hurt middle class families and communities in states like mine. And that is exactly what happened. Thanks to this arbitrary cap, taxpayers are being double-taxed by paying federal taxes on what they have already paid in state and local taxes. This makes it very difficult for middle-class professionals in my district to afford to live near where they work. Before this arbitrary cap was put into place, the average deduction in my district was $21,000, more than double the $10,000 cap. As a result, many Californians saw their taxes rise as a result of the Republican tax bill. That's why I'm so pleased the Ways and Means Committee acted today to finally fix this Republican attack on working families by marking up HR 5377, the Restoring Tax Fairness for States and Localities Act. Restoring the SALT deduction is about ensuring that our hardworking middle-class families aren't double-taxed just because of their zip code."