MORRIS COUNTY — Representative Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) introduced an amendment to the FY 2024 Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Appropriations bill prohibiting the Internal Revenue Service from interfering in state and local tax (SALT) relief programs for hard-working, middle-class families. New Jersey was among the first states to provide such tax relief before their initiative was struck down by the IRS in 2019.
“The SALT cap is an unfair double tax on middle-class families that imposes billions of dollars in additional costs on New Jersey residents and makes it harder for our state to invest in critical services, such as public education and law enforcement,” said Rep. Sherrill. “I have consistently fought to make New Jersey a more affordable place to live and my amendment will allow states and localities to develop innovative policies that provide SALT relief and cut taxes for families by preventing the IRS from unjustly interfering in state-level SALT legislation.”
The House Republican majority abruptly pulled the FSGG appropriations bill from consideration Thursday morning.
In 2017, the GOP’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act imposed a harmful double tax and one of the largest marriage penalties in the tax code by capping the state and local tax deductions at $10,000 per household. In response, states such as New Jersey developed policies to provide tax relief to families by expanding access to the federal charitable deduction and helping small business owners to deduct their full SALT at the entity level. However, the IRS issued new regulatory guidance in 2019 restricting states from implementing these policies.
In May 2022, Rep. Sherrill led several of her House colleagues in a letter urging the House Appropriations Committee to include language in the FY 2023 Appropriations bill prohibiting the IRS from putting restrictions on SALT relief delivered by state and local governments. In July 2022, she also introduced an amendment to the House appropriations package preventing the IRS from restricting the ability of state and local governments to enact SALT relief. As part of her Jersey STRONG agenda, she also introduced the bipartisan Middle-Class Tax Relief Act in January 2023, which substantially raises the SALT deduction cap and fully eliminates the cap for 99% of NJ-11 families.
