By Robert Hornak

The fight over the federal SALT tax deduction is heating up as the time to pass the next federal budget approaches. Many House Republicans who represent districts in high tax blue states like New York are working feverishly to either eliminate or dramatically increase the cap. This, however, is not the tax code change Republicans should be fighting for. 

In 2017 Trump passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) which, according to the Tax Foundation, “reduced average tax burdens for taxpayers across the income spectrum and temporarily simplified the tax filing process through structural reforms. It also boosted capital investment by reforming the corporate tax system and significantly improved the international tax system.”

One of the reforms was to set a $10,000 cap on the state and local taxes (SALT) that filers who itemize can deduct. To help offset this for middle class taxpayers who might have previously received a small benefit from itemizing, the standard deduction was almost doubled from $6,500 to $12,000 for individuals and from $13,000 to $24,000 for married filers. 

This reform had a few major benefits. First, it reduced the number of people who itemized from approximately 30% to about 10% now, making tax preparation easier. It also helped level the federal tax playing field between high income filers in high tax (mostly) blue states and similar filers in low tax red states. 

Naturally, in their relentless mania to attack anything Trump, Democrats claimed the SALT cap was an attack on high tax blue states. It appears that Democrats suddenly forgot that for years they have been screaming that the rich don’t pay their fair share in federal taxes, and in this case they were right. They also ignore one very basic simple fact, states don’t pay federal taxes, people do. 

Democrats in places like NY have always claimed that the high local taxes were the price some people were willing to pay for living in such a dynamic city that offers so much professionally, culturally, and gastronomically. But with SALT the only people ultimately paying for that privilege were the middle class. The wealthy took this huge deduction to avoid paying for that privilege. 

Simply put, if you earn one million dollars a year and you live in Florida, you are paying the top rate of 37% before deductions and you don’t have state taxes to reduce your federal liability. But if you live in NY and earn one million dollars, you get to deduct the 10.3% you pay in state taxes and an additional 3% if you live in NYC from that 37% rate. That’s over $130,000 right off the top that a wealthy NYC filer earning a million dollars a year avoids paying in federal taxes.

Talk about not paying your fair share. These are exactly the people the Democrats have been talking about for years. The only problem is they are blue state residents (both democrat and republican) and all those people they represent, who for years have been saying that yes, they actually should pay more in federal taxes, suddenly are having a change of heart with this simple fix.

This was essentially what Hillary Clinton was attacking Trump for in that famous 2016 debate when she accused Trump of not paying his taxes. And Trump fired right back saying if you want me to pay my taxes, change the tax code. Then he pointed out that she won’t because the people who fund her campaign use the same deductions he used. 

Trump then won the election and made that change to the tax code, driving his detractors absolutely insane. Trump, a NYC resident at that time, actually raised taxes on himself in addition to all those wealthy political donors he called out in that debate. 

Trump then went ahead and did what every Republican has said is a top Republican priority for the last 40 years. He raised the standard deduction for average filers while cutting deductions for the wealthy, making the tax code simpler and fairer. And that’s the fight Republicans should continue to fight and win with when they do. There is nothing better for working class Americans than a simpler, fairer, flatter tax system that doesn’t require advanced calculus to comply with. 

Robert Hornak is a veteran political consultant who has previously served as the Deputy Director of the Republican Assembly Leader’s NYC office and as Executive Director of the Queens Republican Party. He can be reached at rahornak@gmail.com and @RobertHornak on X.

By Robert Hornak

Many of us are familiar with Richard Nixon’s concession speech after losing the 1962 California race for governor to incumbent Pat Brown, when he angrily chastised the press and said, “you don’t have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.”

It was a shocking loss at the time as California was then a reliably Republican state that rising star Nixon had won in 1960 in his presidential loss to JFK and had won as the candidate for Vice President in both 1952 and 1956. Nixon’s political career was thought to be at an end. Until he ran for President again in 1968.

As we all say, time heals all wounds. Or, as famed political consultant Dick Morris says, in politics nothing is ever fatal or final. 

Andrew Cuomo has had a similar journey in recent years, without the colorful stage-exiting commentary. After two terms as NYS Governor, Cuomo was considered a rising star with a potential path to the presidency. Early into covid he was lauded by many Democrats for his handling of the outbreak, leading his to capitalize on the positive press and write a book. 

Cuomo was also a clear centrist in his party. He worked with rebellious democrats who for years organized the Independent Democratic Caucus, a group of centrist democrats who voted to maintain Republican (while in the minority) control of the State Senate.

He also feuded with the Working Families Party, considered the far left (pre-DSA) of the Democratic Party at that time. Cuomo’s changes to ballot access laws almost caused the WFP to lose their ballot status. 

The growing ranks of far-left elected Democrats were growing weary of Cuomo and expected him to take a job in the Biden administration. But when Cuomo announced he had no intention of leaving his current job, many democrats started scheming on what to do with a problem like Andrew Cuomo. 

In 2021, Attorney General Tish James set her sights on Cuomo. In what many thought was a politically motivated hit job, a few women made accusations that Cuomo had engaged in various degrees of sexual misconduct, prompting James to write a damning report signaling that she intended to try to remove Cuomo from office. Cuomo, reading the tea leaves, promptly resigned, even while proclaiming his innocence. 

And everyone thought that Andrew Cuomo wouldn’t be here for anyone to kick around anymore. But we know that political comebacks make powerful stories. One look at the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave proves that. 

And now a little less than four short years later we have Andrew Cuomo holding a commanding lead for the Democratic nomination for Mayor of NYC. Current polling has Cuomo over 50% if the race were to be held today. 

Socialist candidate Zohran Mamdami is a distant second at 25% and every other Democrat in single digits including democrats with powerful positions like Brad Lander, the current Comptroller, Adrienne Adams, the City Council Speaker, and Scott Stringer, the former Comptroller. 

As expected, Mamdami has a solid following among the far left of his party. But nowhere near a majority, with only one-in-four Democratic Primary voters polled showing any liking for him. In ranked choice voting simulations Mamdami’s numbers don’t go up. Even among the party faithful, people either like Mamdami and pick him first, or don’t like him at all. 

The rest of the single digit field is running as Mamdami-light. Afraid to take on any positions that the far left might object to, like deporting criminal illegal aliens or removing the mentally ill homeless from city streets. 

Cuomo, on the other hand, has no fear about taking positions that will anger the far left of his party. And polling has also shown that Democratic Primary voters want the address the many crises we are now juggling, including making our streets safer, deporting criminal illegal aliens, and providing real treatment for the homeless, even if it must be forced on them. 

It’s a mystery why not one of these Democrats has tried to carve out a lane to compete with Cuomo for the vast center of the Democratic Party, but not one has. Leaving only the one guy whose message is resonating and voters have confidence he can deliver on, making his win in June almost certain. 

Robert Hornak is a veteran political consultant who has previously served as the Deputy Director of the Republican Assembly Leader’s NYC office and as Executive Director of the Queens Republican Party. He can be reached at rahornak@gmail.com and @RobertHornak on X.