Cities Condemn Passage of House Tax Bill

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1). The bill introduces a new structure of income tax brackets, a lower corporate tax rate, nearly doubles the standard deduction and limits or eliminates most deductions, including the deductibility of state and local income and sales taxes. In response to today's announcement, National League of Cities (NLC) President Matt Zone, councilmember, Cleveland, released the following statement:

"As we've repeatedly stated, cities support a simpler, fairer tax code that promotes economic growth for American families and cities, but this bill could not be farther from that. Tax reform cannot raise taxes on American families, diminish local decision-making over local taxes by eliminating most of the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, or strip cities of tools like bonds that enable local leaders to build strong, healthy and economically vibrant communities.

"Congress has heard some concerns of local leaders, but today's vote indicates that we still have a long way to go before Congress can truly claim that their plan will grow the economy, help American families, strengthen communities and respect local decision-making.

"Cities will continue to challenge any plan that threatens the tax exemption for bonds used to finance critical infrastructure, eliminates the state and local tax deduction that protects local decision-making and erases tax credits that strengthen communities. We thank the members of Congress who stood with cities in rejecting this flawed bill, but we will now push the Senate and conference committee to reject this bill and work on tax reform that actually moves America forward."

The National League of Cities (NLC) is a founding member of Americans Against Double Taxation, a coalition of advocacy groups dedicated to preserving the state and local tax (SALT) deduction. To learn more about NLC's efforts relating to SALT, visit www.nlc.org/SALT.

View NLC's letter to Congress on tax reform.

The National League of Cities (NLC) is dedicated to helping city leaders build better communities. NLC is a resource and advocate for 19,000 cities, towns and villages, representing more than 218 million Americans. www.nlc.org

SOURCE National League of Cities