Schumer to force vote in bid to kill $10K federal cap on state, local tax deductions

WASHINGTON – Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will make a move Wednesday to kill the $10,000 federal cap on state and local tax deductions.

The New York senator will force a vote on a bill that would overturn an IRS rule from June that banned charitable contributions to state and local governments in exchange for tax write-offs.

High-tax states, including New York, had implemented the charitable contribution swap to get around the $10,000 federal cap articulated in the December 2017 tax overhaul signed by President Trump.

“So the minority doesn’t have much power in the Senate, but one of the few abilities we have to force a vote is called the CRA – the Congressional Review Act,” Schumer explained to The Post Tuesday afternoon. “We can undo a rule the administration puts in.”

That rule was already under attack by the attorneys general of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut who jointly sued the IRS over it in July.

So far, Schumer believes he has 46 yes votes. There’s one hold-out in the 47 senators who caucus with the Democrats. He doesn’t have any Republican yes votes yet, but said he believed some were possible.

“They made it so broad in the IRS it doesn’t just affect just state and local taxes, but many charitable groups, including some very conservative ones,” Schumer said of the rule. “So it affects a lot of southern states and that’s why we have the chance to win some Republicans.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s spokesman wouldn’t reveal where the Kentucky Republican stood on Schumer’s move, telling The Post, “Leader McConnell will have more to say on SALT later this week.”

A White House spokesman said the Trump administration is “opposed to the repeal.”

But Schumer said he believed President Trump would sign the bill if it came to his desk. “He indicated some sympathy for it,” Schumer said.

And a source close to the administration reiterated that point, saying the issue has plagued the White House, and so the president may be open to some movement on it.

Before the 2017 tax law passed taxpayers could deduct all of their state and local taxes from their federal tax bill. With the cap, Democrats have complained that the Trump-era tax laws have unfairly hurt blue states, including New York.

“The cap on state and local deductibility was a dagger in the heart of New York’s middle class, particularly suburban people who pay high property taxes,” Schumer complained Tuesday.

Senate Democrats had 90 days after the IRS rule came out to force a floor vote, with the deadline coming next week. If Schumer is unsuccessful, he said he wouldn’t attempt a second vote. Instead, he’d wait to see if the Democrats were able to retake the Senate in the 2020 election.

“And if we take back the Senate I’ll do everything I can to undo the state and local cap on deductions,” Schumer promised.

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