LEADER SCHUMER & SENATOR CARDIN ANNOUNCE SENATE DEMOCRATS WILL FORCE SENATE FLOOR VOTE NEXT WEEK TO REPEAL TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S NEW RULE THAT SIGNIFICANTLY WEAKENS IMPORTANT CARBON EMISSIONS STANDARDS FOR POWER PLANTS AND EXACERBATES CLIMATE CRISIS

Under The Congressional Review Act, Senate Democrats Can Force A Majority-Threshold Vote Wednesday On The Resolution To Nullify The IRS’s Rule Blocking Homeowners’ Ability To Work Around Harmful GOP Tax Law Caps On SALT Deduction

Senate Democrats: The GOP Tax Bill And These Unfair IRS Regulations Hurt America’s Homeowners—We’re Fighting Back By Forcing A Senate Vote To Undo Harmful SALT Caps

Washington, D.C. – (RealEstateRama) – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Committee on Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) today announced that Senate Democrats will use their authority under the Congressional Review Act to force a vote on the Senate floor on Wednesday, on a resolution to nullify recent IRS rules blocking critical state workarounds to harmful state and local tax (SALT) deduction caps and restore states’ ability to work around the these caps, allowing homeowners to again fully retain their SALT deduction. While the IRS blocked states’ workarounds for families, the Treasury Department in September 2018 issued guidance that had allowed businesses to continue to benefit from these same workarounds. Reversing the IRS’s harmful rule will also preserve the ability of states to maintain their own longstanding local charitable deductions for child care, economic development, education and environmental conservation, many of them represented by Senate Republicans.

Before Trump-era changes to the tax code, taxpayers who itemized deductions on their federal income tax returns could deduct state and local real estate and personal property taxes, as well as either income taxes or general sales taxes. State and local income and real estate taxes had made up approximately sixty percent of local and state tax deductions while sales tax and personal property taxes made up the remainder. According to the Tax Policy Center, approximately one-third of tax filers had itemized deductions on their federal income tax returns.

Wednesday’s vote is the latest in a series of votes allowed for under the authority provided in the Congressional Review Act which Senate Democrats plan to use to force Majority Leader McConnell to act. Leader McConnell – long before the House impeachment inquiry – turned the Senate into a legislative graveyard for the priorities of the American people. Senate Democrats will soon also force a vote in the Senate on a resolution to save pre-existing condition protections by reversing the Trump Administration’s rule pushing junk health care plans, and just last week, Senate Democrats forced a vote to repeal the Trump Administration’s Dirty Power Scam rule.

“The Trump-Republican tax-bill was a complete and total betrayal of the middle class, and these new IRS rules are yet another devastating blow to working families across the country,” said Leader Schumer. “Leader McConnell and Republicans are content to sit back on their heels while American families suffer, but Senate Democrats refuse to stand idly by. On Wednesday, Senate Democrats will force a vote to nullify the IRS’s horrible rule and put power back in the hands of homeowners. America’s homeowners shouldn’t be forced to bear the brunt of the GOP’s political games.”

“Donald Trump and Republicans intentionally targeted Democratic states so they could shovel tens of billions of dollars more in tax cuts to the wealthiest individuals and companies in America,” said Ranking Member Wyden. “In blocking efforts to respond to this attack, the Treasury Department wrote broad regulations that hurt the majority of states by effectively eliminating the benefit of their charitable tax credit programs. These include credits that support important priorities like conservation, child care, charitable endowments, and access to higher education. Republican senators have been requesting help for constituents who have been harmed by these regulations so they should join Democrats in overturning them.”

“The Trump-GOP tax scheme was a massive hit job on middle class families in New Jersey and other economic powerhouse states where the cost of living is high, but we’re going to keep fighting with every tool we’ve got,” said Senator Menendez.  “With this CRA, we will force Republicans in the Senate to take notice.  It’s time to reverse the IRS’s flawed and unfair rule that arbitrarily crippled states’ efforts to make investments in education, public safety and job-creation while protecting hard-working, middle class families from even higher property tax burdens.”

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