GOP push to eliminate deduction for state taxes is punitive

Your Wednesday editorial, “The Schumer deduction,” praising the elimination of state taxes as a federal deduction claims that this change in the tax code would make the tax code more equitable and foster prosperity. Really? You want people to pay income tax on money they never get to see because they are already paying it in taxes to a state government?

The states that have higher state income taxes, such as New York and California, have two things in common. First, they already contribute far more in tax dollars to federal coffers than they receive back. A further increase in federal taxes selectively on the citizens of those states is neither fair nor equitable. The second thing they have in common is that they tend to vote Democratic. If passed by the Republican Congress, it would appear to be more punitive than fair and equitable.

If the RJ wants to advocate eliminating a deduction that proportionately taxes the wealthy in all states, you should embrace the elimination of the deduction for mortgage interest. Because most people buy homes relatively proportionate to their income, it would tax the wealthy more than middle- or lower-income families and spare increasing taxes on the poor who cannot afford to buy a home. It would raise taxes on all 50 states, not just the “blue states.”

A change like that would make the tax code simpler and more equitable. Of course, that won’t happen because the Republican Congress would never pass a law that takes away a deduction for its constituents.