Every Empire State House Democrat except Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Kathleen Rice signed the letter, a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO.
The group is part of a growing chorus of Democrats calling to roll back the tax deduction cap instituted to help pay for the GOP’s costly tax-cut package in 2017. Supporters of that push include Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who told reporters earlier this month that she hopes to secure the restoration of unlimited SALT deduction in the broader package.
“I think we’re building momentum and we’re continuing to build momentum,” Suozzi said in an interview Tuesday.
Rolling back the SALT cap would give relief to taxpayers in blue states, who pay the highest rates of state and local taxes across the U.S. But the policy hasn’t been without controversy in the party. Some progressive Democrats, including Ocasio-Cortez, have argued that rolling back the deduction — which would cost tens of billions of dollars the first year alone — would only help the wealthiest taxpayers.
“A lot of progressives support this, certainly from New York delegation, other states as well,” Suozzi said, when asked about some of the liberal pushback on the proposal.
“When this was done by President Trump and the GOP, they weren’t trying to be progressive, I can assure you on that. This had the biggest negative impact on progressive states,” Suozzi said.