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Cuomo appeals to Trump as New Yorker: Don't cripple home state
"I am not writing as a Democratic Governor to a Republican President, but rather as one New Yorker who cares about New York and the country to another," Cuomo said in his letter to Trump.
(BRENDAN MCDERMID/REUTERS)
ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo issued a New Yorker-to-New Yorker plea to President Trump to push for a tax reform plan that won't harm his native Empire State.
A day before Republican leaders in Congress are due to release the details of their tax reform proposal, Cuomo released a public letter to Trump asking that he fight for New York's interests.
"I am not writing as a Democratic Governor to a Republican President, but rather as one New Yorker who cares about New York and the country to another," Cuomo wrote. "I often say to the New York State legislature, we are Democrats and we are Republicans, but we are New Yorkers first."
Cuomo reiterated his argument that any tax reform plan that includes the elimination or rolling back of the deductibility of state and local taxes would be a "death blow" to New York and other high-tax states. Not only would it be double taxation.
"I understand the politics at play here," Cuomo wrote. "California and New York are 'blue states.' I also understand that the political map dictates that most Republican members of Congress come from outside the Northeast and West Coast and their primary motivation is to help their states at any cost, even when it comes at the cost of middle class New Yorkers."
But Cuomo argued that "when the economies of New York and California suffer, and they will, the nation follows."
He called the push to eliminate or alter the federal deductibility of state and local taxes "a hostile political act aimed at the economic heart of New York with no basis on the merits."
Not only would it amount to double taxation, it would also reverse "all the bipartisan progress New York State has made in lowering taxes over these past few years," Cuomo said.
Cuomo has been an outspoken critic of Trump's proposed tax reforms, which he says will stifle New York's economy.
(JIM WATSON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
He cited a lowering of state income taxes, a cap on local property taxes, and a push to force local governments to come up with shared services agreements.
Eliminating the deductibility of state and local taxes would result in an average tax hike of $5,660 for 3.3 million, or one third, New York taxpayers, he wrote.
Various compromises that have been floated also wouldn't work, and could force the wealthy out of high-tax states like New York, which would only add to the tax burdens of the middle class who remain.
"There is no middle ground here," Cuomo wrote. "Any of the proposed 'compromises' will still destroy New York's economy and harm the middle class. There can be no elimination, no 'compromise,' and no cap on state and local tax deductibility.
Cuomo — who noted that seven of nine New York congressional Republicans voted last week against a budget bill that included a provision to eliminate the deductibility of state and local taxes — concluded the letter with one final plea to his fellow Queens native.
"New York needs your help," the governor urged Trump. "You can stop this. And you should not just as an American, but as a New Yorker."
A White House spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.
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