RELEASE: Ahead of Tax Day, Gottheimer Announces New Legislation to Eliminate SALT Marriage Penalty — and Cut Taxes for Jersey Families

Above: Gottheimer announces new legislation to expand SALT deduction.

FORT LEE, NJ — Today, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) announced new legislation to eliminate the “marriage penalty” in the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction, continuing his long-running fight to lower taxes for hard-working Jersey families.

Watch Gottheimer’s full remarks here.

To address the ongoing marriage penalty in the tax code, Congressman Gottheimer introduced the Tax Cuts, Not Penalties, for Married Couples Act. The legislation would double the SALT deduction cap for married couples filing jointly, ensuring they are not held to the same limit as single filers. 

“As you know, I never back down from a fight, and when it comes to expanding SALT and getting hard-earned tax money back to hardworking Jersey families, the fight isn’t finished just yet,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). “Under current law, a single filer and a married couple filing jointly get the same SALT cap. It defies common sense. My bill comes back to a simple idea: if you file jointly, you should receive a joint deduction, not be treated the same as a single filer.”

“Today, I’m introducing new, commonsense legislation to fix this problem once and for all, the Tax Cuts, Not Penalties, for Married Couples Act. It will get rid of the marriage penalty on SALT, said Gottheimer. “Our bill says something very simple: if you file jointly, you should double the deduction individual filers get for their SALT deduction.”

Currently, both single filers and married couples filing jointly face roughly the same SALT cap (about $40,400) despite married households often having two incomes and significantly higher property taxes. Gottheimer’s legislation would raise the cap for married couples to $80,800, allowing each individual to file the full SALT deduction and better reflect the realities facing families in high-cost states like New Jersey.

The announcement comes as Jersey families continue to feel the impact of the 2017 federal tax law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which imposed a $10,000 cap on SALT deductions, a move Gottheimer voted against and has worked to reverse. While recent progress has increased the cap to $40,400 for many families, Gottheimer emphasized that more work remains.

Gottheimer continued, “Even still, those tax bills are U-G-L-Y, ugly. And writing those checks to the tax man feels like getting smacked in the face with yet another surprise bill on your kitchen table. I told you years ago, when I first started my fight to restore SALT, that I wouldn’t stop fighting until we got all of our SALT deduction back.”

Gottheimer has helped lead bipartisan efforts in Congress to restore SALT, including passing multiple bills in the House and co-chairing the SALT Caucus.

Gottheimer noted that eliminating the marriage penalty is a bipartisan, commonsense step that could be included in upcoming federal tax legislation. He also reaffirmed his broader goal of fully restoring the SALT deduction.

“Now, on Tax Day eve, we can use the next one to take another critical step on the way to fully restoring the SALT tax deduction. Because 25% of taxpayers in New Jersey are sill seeing higher taxes since 2016 — even with the increase to $40,000,” said Gottheimer. “I mean, that’s ridiculous. It defies common sense.  Why would two people who happened to be married get the same SALT deduction as one person?”

Gottheimer concluded, “This is about teachers, cops, firefighters, nurses, and the men and women of labor. It’s about families sitting around the kitchen table, paying bills, and getting hit with thousands of dollars more in taxes because they’re being taxed twice.”

The Congressman highlighted that nearly three million New Jersey residents would benefit from full SALT restoration, calling the issue critical for middle-class families, including teachers, first responders, and working families across the state.

Gottheimer was joined by Senator Gordon Johnson, Assemblywoman Shama Haider, Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, and Jeff Ware, Fort Lee Chamber of Commerce Executive Director.

Below: Gottheimer announces new legislation to expand SALT deduction.

Gottheimer’s remarks as prepared for delivery:

Good morning, everyone. 

It’s great to be back with you today in Fort Lee at H&R Block to talk about something you’ve heard me say a few times before — SALT — the State and Local Tax Deduction. As you know, I never back down from a fight, and when it comes to expanding SALT and getting hard-earned tax money back to hardworking Jersey families, the fight isn’t finished just yet.

And with Tax Day tomorrow, I know what a lot of families are thinking. More paperwork, more money out of their pockets, and that’s particularly tough right now, when the cost of everything seems to be going through the roof.  Utility bills. Health care. Food. Child care. The tariff tax. Rent. Mortgage rates.  They’re all way up – consumer prices are surging across the board, not to mention your property tax bill. In fact, the Consumer Price Index is up 21.8% since 2021. Insane.

As much as we hate taxes, higher prices, and Tax Day, I wanted to come with some good news. This year, many families in Jersey will get more back in their SALT deduction than last year. 

For many, it’s now what you got back in 2016, but up to $40,000 a family is more than the $10,000 maximum last tax season. 

Even still, those tax bills are U-G-L-Y, ugly. And writing those checks to the tax man feels like getting smacked in the face with yet another surprise bill on your kitchen table. 

I told you years ago, when I first started my fight to restore SALT, that I wouldn’t stop fighting until we got all of our SALT deduction back.  Until we lowered your taxes.  And I meant it.  Despite the progress we’ve made, we aren’t there just yet.  

As you know, the SALT deduction has been around since 1913, helping families avoid double taxation for more than a hundred years. Before you pay your federal taxes, you can deduct what you paid in state income and local property taxes. For more than a century, you could deduct everything you paid, avoiding getting taxed twice on the same income. 

Then, in 2017, the Red Moocher States jammed through the Tax Hike Bill and gutted SALT, slapping a $10,000 cap on that deduction. I voted no, because we all predicted exactly what would happen — middle-class Jersey families would get crushed, taxes would go up, and people and businesses would leave our state. And that’s exactly what’s happened. Families in places like Bergen, Passaic, and Sussex counties have paid thousands more —. It was a direct hit on states like ours, and it’s been a sucker punch to our Jersey families.

Beginning in 2017, I helped pass four bills out of the House to restore SALT — four — just to watch the Red Moocher States stall them in the Senate. I worked with the bipartisan SALT Caucus, which I co-chair and is now more than forty members strong, to build pressure and bring Republicans and Democrats together around a commonsense solution. We’ve made it clear in every major tax negotiation that SALT relief has to be part of the deal. We’ve moved the ball forward — but we’re not done yet.

And, as you may have read, there is another reconciliation bill coming up – it’s the perfect vehicle for the SALT tax cut. That’s where we got the first SALT fix, from $10,000 to $40,000. Now, on Tax Day eve, we can use the next one to take another critical step on the way to fully restoring the SALT tax deduction. Because 25% of taxpayers in New Jersey are sill seeing higher taxes since 2016 — even with the increase to $40,000.

What’s the perfect next step, and one many Republicans have supported over the years, getting rid of the SALT marriage penalty.  

Under current law, a single filer and a married couple filing jointly get the same SALT cap. Think about that. A married couple often has two incomes, pays income taxes on both salaries, often owns a larger home with higher property taxes, and yet, they get treated exactly the same as a single filer. Right now, the cap is $40,400 — whether you’re single or married filing jointly. So, two people who get married can actually end up worse off than if they filed separately.

I mean, that’s ridiculous. It defies common sense.  Why would two people who happened to be married get the same SALT deduction as one person? 

In a state like New Jersey, in Bergen County, where property taxes alone can exceed $15,000, the median property tax is more than $14,000, and the average SALT deduction was more than $24,000 before the cap, you can see how quickly families hit that $40,000 ceiling.

This isn’t Oklahoma, where property taxes are, on average, just $1,672, a fraction of what they are here. This isn’t Alabama, with an average of about $900.  This is Jersey. We invest in our schools, our infrastructure, and our communities — and we’re getting punished for taking care of our families. Oh, and subsidizing the Moocher States like Alabama, too, with all of these absurd taxes we’re paying. 

It’s time to fix it.  

So today, I’m introducing new, commonsense legislation to fix this problem once and for all, the Tax Cuts, Not Penalties, for Married Couples Act. It will get rid of the marriage penalty on SALT. 

Our bill says something very simple: if you file jointly, you should double the deduction individual filers get for their SALT deduction. 

That means instead of a roughly $40,400 cap for married couples, each filer would be able to deduct up to $40,400 on their own — bringing the combined total to about $80,800, double the current level — reflecting the reality that these households have two incomes and higher tax exposure.

Same SALT rules — but a joint return gets a joint deduction.

It’s a targeted fix. It doesn’t eliminate the cap — that’s next on my list — but it just fixes something that never should have been set up this way in the first place.

Our goal is still to fully restore the SALT deduction and uncap the SALT shaker. Because here in New Jersey, SALT is a middle-class issue. Nearly a third of our state — almost three million people — would benefit from fully restoring SALT.

This is about teachers, cops, firefighters, nurses, and the men and women of labor. It’s about families sitting around the kitchen table, paying bills, and getting hit with thousands of dollars more in taxes because they’re being taxed twice.

At the end of the day, this comes back to one simple idea: no one should get taxed twice on the same income.

We’ve been saying it for years, and we’re going to keep saying it until we fix it.

I know that if we fight hard and work together, we can restore SALT, lower taxes, and make life more affordable for families here in Jersey and across the country.

In the greatest country in the world, our best days will always be ahead of us.

Thank you, God bless you, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.

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