The Floral Park village board unanimously approved a resolution opposing the elimination of the deductibility of state and local taxes at a meeting last Thursday.
“We’re opposed to it because it works out to be double taxation. You’re paying taxes on the income you just lost on your local and state taxes,” said village Administrator Gerard Bambrick. “It’s definitely going to hurt residents in our area.”
House Republicans have proposed tax legislation that may include the elimination of state and local tax deductions. The deduction, or SALT, has been in place since 1913 and allows taxpayers to deduct state and local taxes from their federal tax bill if they itemize deductions.
Bambrick said that representatives across the aisle oppose eliminating state and local tax deductions.
“There is definitely bipartisan support in opposing this double taxation,” Bambrick said. “In New York State, property taxes are high and local income taxes are high, so that’s an important deduction for the people of Floral Park.”
The New York Conference of Mayors asked local villages to formally express their opposition through similar resolutions, Bambrick said.
Peter Baynes, executive director of the New York Conference of Mayors, said that more than three million New Yorkers take advantage of the deduction.
“There’s a very, very real chance [SALT deductions] will be eliminated if members of Congress don’t stand up and fight to protect it,” Baynes said.
Other North Shore villages like Roslyn, East Hills and Great Neck Plaza have also passed resolutions formally opposing eliminating the deduction.
“Upstate, downstate, I think this is an issue that cuts across all of our membership,” Baynes said.
Eighty-one percent of tax filers with incomes exceeding $100,000 claimed the deduction in 2014, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonprofit think tank, while 10 percent of filers with incomes below $50,000 claimed the deduction.
Organizations like the National Governors Association, the United States Conference of Mayors and National Conference of State Legislatures have also opposed eliminating the deduction.
In other action, the Floral Park village board also approved a request of the Covert Chamber of Commerce to waive meter fees along Covert Avenue and side streets on Small Business Saturday, held Nov. 25.
Janelle Clausen contributed reporting.
