Conley’s SALT proposal would favor the wealthy

Dear Editor,

Every spring we do the same grim budgeting at our kitchen table.

Property taxes through the roof, state income taxes on top of that, and a federal deduction capped at $10,000 no matter what I actually paid. Washington was double-taxing me on money I never saw, because it had already gone to Albany and my school district.

This April, for the first time since 2018, I deducted all my state and local taxes, thanks to Congressman Mike Lawler.

Mike fought tirelessly on this issue and delivered big for us. When the Senate’s draft of the big tax bill came out last summer with the old $10,000 cap put back in, Mike Lawler called it dead on arrival and said he would not accept a penny less than the $40,000 the House had negotiated. He and a handful of other Republicans held their votes to make sure the cap was quadrupled from the onerous $10,000.

I know Cait Conley likes to say this isn’t enough... but her proposal of unlimited SALT ultimately only makes the rich richer, which is why the version Mike Lawler agreed to, which phases out above half a million dollars in income, is the right move. The ultra-wealthy (many of whom are Cait Conley donors) do not lie awake over a school tax bill. People with a mortgage in Westchester County do.

The higher cap runs through 2029, and Congress will need to extend it again. But I know which congressman I want at that table - Mike Lawler!!

-Lisa Vanga, Somers