Exclusive | Malliotakis challenges Dems to work with GOP on SALT deduction ater Trump pledge as NY taxed to death

Rep.Nicole Malliotakis challenged Democrats to help House Republicans increase the state and local tax deduction as she blamed them for overtaxing New York residents in the first place.Malliotakis (R-NY), a member of the tax-writing House Committee on Ways and Means, was among the Republicans who huddled with President-elect Donald Trump Saturday in Mar-a-Lago to strategize on SALT and other issues.

“Democrats care about middle-class families, and they should support it,” Malliotakis told The Post after that meeting.“The reason we need SALT relief is because our mayor and governor keep taxing New Yorkers to death.”“The governor could easily lower income tax rates as the president did on the federal level.

They choose to not do the right thing, and so we’re trying to provide relief from the federal level.”Back in 2017, when Trump and Congress reformed the tax code via the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, they opted to cap the SALT deduction at $10,000, which meant many blue state residents saw the federal income tax bills skyrocket.Lawmakers in New York and other blue states formed the bipartisan SALT Caucus to lift the cap.Trump had previously signaled openness to that but doubled down on it during his meeting with lawmakers on Saturday.New York Gov.

Kathy Hochul (D) has repeatedly called for a “full repeal” of the SALT cap, but Malliotakis dismissed that as the governor trying to curry favor with donors.“There’s not an appetite, whether it’s within Congress or among American taxpayers, to completely eliminate the cap.

That would benefit the ultra-wealthy, and we’re really focused on middle-class families,” Malliotakis said.Lawmakers are loosely mulling an increase of the cap to $20,000 on the low end and $100,000 on the high end for individuals, she added.

Malliotakis also wants the final number to be indexed for inflation.“We didn’t discuss specifics.That’s part of our homework,” Malliotakis said of the plan.Complicating the situati...