32 THE QUEENS COURIER • OCTOBER 19, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
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TAX SCAM
Since its release, the Trump tax plan — or the Cliff sNotes version of it,
which is all anyone has yet seen — has raised eyebrows particularly as it
aff ects middle- and working-class people in high tax states.
Such changes as lowering the top tax rate from 35 to 20 percent and doing
away with the estate tax — payable only when a person’s estate exceeds $5.49
million — clearly benefi t the rich, who are already doing quite well, thank
you very much.
Other provisions are targeted at easing the tax burden of businesses under
the guise of helping to grow the economy.
But such changes come at a cost, and it’s one we think is untenable as it aff ects
New York residents, particularly homeowners, so much so that Governor
Andrew Cuomo has called the proposal “a death blow to New York.”
Not only would the federal defi cit skyrocket, according to many economists,
but we here in Queens would be hit particularly hard even as we watch
government services decline.
For decades, both mortgage interest and state and local taxes have been
deductible on one’s federal tax form, the latter under the theory that people
shouldn’t be taxed twice on the same money.
While the Trump plan would keep the mortgage interest deduction, it
would do away with the deduction for state and local taxes, which has the
potential to hit New Yorkers — who already pay more in taxes than most
Americans — particularly hard.
Th e reality is that we not only pay state and city income taxes — we also
dig deeper into our pockets to pay continually rising real estate taxes, all to
fi nance local government services, in part because we send so much more in
tax revenue to Washington, D.C., than we get in return.
Th e reason for that turn of events is simple — disproportionate amounts of
our federal taxes are being sent to the low-tax states whose government services
we are in eff ect helping to fi nance, while their residents are spared the
need to pay their fair share for their state’s upkeep.
Th e reality is that, while residents of low-tax states — already the benefi ciaries
of an inequitable system — might see their federal income tax decrease,
the opposite would be true here, as many New Yorkers’ federal tax bill would
likely go up as a result of losing the deduction, squeezing hard-working
Queens residents even more.
“What it really is,” Cuomo said, “is Washington’s attempt to cut taxes in
other parts of the country by using New York as a piggy bank. And that is
something that we cannot allow to happen. It would literally change the competitiveness
of this state overnight.”
Th at’s just not right or fair, and our elected representatives of both parties
must do whatever it takes to prevent such a turn of events.
STORY: These are the 6 most haunted spots in western Queens
SUMMARY: There are rumors and ghost stories in every city, and
Astoria is no exception.
REACH: 14,108 (as of 10/19/17)