Why does it NOT bother you that under the GOP's proposed tax plan taxes will INCREASE for many lower and middle income people in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich ??
Much of what the GOP is "giving" in tax cuts... it will take away from others in tax increases.
The GOP is eliminating inflation-indexed personal exemptions and higher standard deductions that help low and middle income people... to use the money saved from that to help pay for the tax cuts for the rich... just like the GOP wants to use the money saved from eliminating the deduction for state taxes to help pay for tax cuts for the rich.
In short, the GOP is robbing poor Peter to pay rich Paul.
@KingsX http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1710/18/se.01.htmlQUESTION: Senator Cruz, while I do not mind paying the state taxes required to make New York one of the best states in the country, I've come to rely on that SALT, state and local tax deduction. And it's actually been on the books since income tax code was invented in 1913.
It seems to me that many GOP senators from red states are deliberately trying to punish blue Democratic states by removing the SALT deduction, which benefits higher tax states. To me, this seems both unethical and bad policy. So my question for you is, why would a middle-class working mom like myself support taking away the middle- class SALT deduction so that the wealthy Americans, like you, can get more money? Thank you.
CRUZ: Well, Andrea, thank you for your question. Thank you for being here.
Look, let me make a couple of points. Number one, I agree with you. The objective of tax reform should be cutting everyone's taxes, cutting people's taxes in blue states, cutting people's taxes in red states. And if we don't do that, we've done something wrong. That's what I'm urging in Congress, that we should cut everybody's taxes. You're a mom with three kids. We need to be cutting your taxes.
Now, I'll tell you, the state and local tax deduction is taken overwhelmingly by those earning $200,000 a year or more. It's those who are itemizing their taxes. It tends to be the wealthy. Now, and I favor eliminating that deduction, why? Because I don't think the federal government should be incentivizing states and local governments to jack up their taxes.
But let me give a big caveat.
I wouldn't favor eliminating that deduction unless we are lowering the tax rate enough that people in New York state, that people in Orange County, California, are paying less in total taxes. They're not deducting their state and local taxes, but the rate is a lot lower so the check they're writing at the end of the day is smaller.
