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Governor and Congressman Reed Argue Over Tax Reform

November 17, 2017

ALBANY, NY – Governor Andrew Cuomo put out a statement after yesterday’s vote in Washington, slamming the New York State House Republicans who voted for the tax reform legislation.  The governor says that vote was a betrayal of New Yorkers and was disgusting and reprehensible.  Cuomo maintains that the tax reform is based on the faulty reasoning that big corporations will get tax breaks and then help their employees out.  The governor also stated that the tax reform does not allow you to deduct property taxes from your federal income.

Congressman Tom Reed issued a response:  “I knew the governor was a bully, but I didn’t know he was an outright liar. A true leader tries to address the problems of the people they represent.  Clearly the governor can’t lead our state out of its problems, so how can he expect to be the leader of our nation?  I support tax relief for hardworking New Yorkers – maybe the governor should get his spending under control so we can focus on the same.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today there was a vote that has significant consequences for the State of New York, which is the tax bill that the federal government passed in the House. They call it a tax cut, it is a tax cut for wealthy corporations. It is going to devastate the families in New York State. And we’ve been talking about this for weeks. They did it anyway. What the tax bill does is it doesn’t allow you to deduct property taxes from your federal income. Now that sounds confusing. Which is why they got away with it. But it is vital. We have some of the highest property taxes in the United States. Nassau, Suffolk, have some of the highest property taxes literally in the country. Right now you deduct your property taxes and your income taxes form your federal income. They have eliminated that. So now the federal government will tax the amount of money you pay in property taxes. Just think of that. They’re going to tax the amount of money you pay in property taxes. This from the party that said they want to reduce taxation. It is a double tax. It has never happened before. Our tax code has been in place for over 100 years. It’s how we finance New York State and the counties. And it is going to be a tax increase devastating for Long Island.

 

It’s very bad for New York. It’s very bad for California, and basically 10 other states in the country. Now coincidentally the 12 states that are affected are primarily Democratic states. I am most appalled that you would have Republican congresspeople who voted for it. And I talked to all of them and they all had the same line which was, “Well you know my political leaders are forcing me to vote for it.” You don’t work for your political leaders. You work for the people who elected you. And this was a betrayal of the people who elected you because this will hurt their constituents. Period. It’s inarguable. It’s not a political issue, Democrat and Republican. This will hurt this state dramatically.

 

There are some congresspeople who didn’t vote for it. Republican congresspeople, I applaud them. I applaud Peter King. But that you had Republican congresspeople like Claudia Tenney and Katko and Collins and Reed who actually voted against the interest of their own constituents. I had spoken to all of the legislative leaders. There was absolutely no justification why they would have targeted New York. The math is they need money to pay for the corporate tax cut. They’re getting the money from eliminating the deductions on state and local taxes. So they’re using New York as a piggy bank to finance the corporate tax cut. It’s disgusting. It’s reprehensible. It’s a direct attack on this state. It’s going to do real damage. I only pray that the Senate can stop it because the House played politics in a way I’ve never seen politics played before. We have elections. We get past the elections and then we go forward and we govern. But you’re not supposed to govern with political vindictiveness and what they did is they penalized the Democratic states. It’s unfair and I believe it’s possibly illegal.

 

 

In regards to the mischaracterization of  the phone conversation between Congressman Reed and Gov. Cuomo, the congressman replies:

“I knew the governor was a bully, but I didn’t know he was an outright liar. A true leader tries to address the problems of the people they represent.  Clearly the governor can’t lead our state out of its problems, so how can he expect to be the leader of our nation?  I support tax relief for hardworking New Yorkers – maybe the governor should get his spending under control so we can focus on the same.”

 

 


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