VIDEO: Gillen Urges Ways and Means Committee to Reinstate SALT Deduction During Member Day Hearing

January 22, 2025

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congresswoman Laura Gillen (NY-04) testified in front of the House Ways and Means Committee on the urgent need to reinstate the full State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction in upcoming tax negotiations. Gillen has been a strong advocate for restoring this middle-class deduction, calling on House and Senate leadership to begin bipartisan negotiations on securing this vital relief for Long Islanders during her first week in Congress. Below is a video of her full remarks and a copy as prepared for delivery:

(As prepared for delivery)

Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Neal, and Members of the House Committee on Ways and Means,

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to highlight a critical priority of my constituents in the Fourth Congressional District of New York.

As members of the chief tax-writing committee in Congress, you will play a major role in the upcoming reauthorization of the 2017 Tax Bill.

Without a doubt, the single most urgent and important tax priority for my constituents on Long Island is the need to eliminate the cap on and fully restore the State and Local Tax Deduction.

As you know, since the federal income tax was first established in 1913, Congress made state and local taxes deductible from federal income. They did so out of recognition that double-taxation of Americans is simply unfair.

The SALT deduction allowed the hardworking men and women I represent on Long Island, who pay some of highest taxes in the country – to reduce their federally taxable income by deducting the full amount that they pay in state income and local property taxes.

This important, bipartisan feature of the tax code stood the test of time for more than 100 years. As you know, the 2017 tax bill did away with this provision, gutting and capping the SALT deduction, and, as a result, imposing double-taxation on my constituents some 11 million Americans who hit the cap, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

By capping and scrapping the full SALT deduction, the 2017 Tax Bill has made life even more expensive for my constituents. Prior to the cap, nearly 50 percent of all taxpayers in my district used the SALT deduction, with Nassau County residents deducting $26,259 on average, more than double the current, $10,000 cap.

I’ve heard from countless hardworking families in my district over the past few years who’ve had to pay tens of thousands of dollars more in taxes, making their lives even more expensive, and adding to the cost-of-living crisis on Long Island.

For example, a police officer and a teacher in my district, each making $120,000, paying about $7,000 in income taxes, with $15,000 in property taxes, would have been able to deduct about $29,000 in state and local taxes. With the cap, they can now only deduct $10,000, so they lose about $19,000 that they were able to deduct.

I’m committed to reversing the harmful SALT cap and cutting taxes for my constituents. This is a critical, commonsense concern in my district that affects hardworking, middle-class families.

That is why, in my first week in Congress, I sent a letter to House and Senate leadership, calling for immediate, bipartisan negotiations to reinstate SALT.

I know there is strong support for getting this done in the upcoming reconciliation package among many House Republicans and Democrats from New York, and many other states – as well as from President Trump, who as we all know, has now promised to “get SALT back.”

That’s why I recently sat down with my colleagues in the bipartisan SALT Caucus to discuss the path forward on reconciliation, and our belief in the need to restore SALT for all our constituents.

Last week, I was also proud to join my Republican colleague, Representative Andrew Garbarino, and twenty cosponsors on both sides of the aisle, in introducing H.R. 430, the SALT Deductibility Act. I strongly urge the committee to swiftly consider this important bill to restore the full deduction that taxpayers had before – and still deserve.

I will continue working across the aisle on good-faith negotiations to deliver tax relief for Long Island.

Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member, thank you for your time today and your work on this Committee to help serve the American people. I look forward to working with you and all our colleagues to help preserve SALT, lower taxes, and cut costs for the families I am honored to represent.

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