RELEASE: Gottheimer Announces New Bipartisan SALT Tax Legislation to Lower Taxes for Hardworking Jersey Families 

Above: Gottheimer announces new actions to cut taxes and restore the SALT deduction.

LEONIA, NJ — Today, January 17, 2025, standing in front of a large salt pile, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) announced his new SALT Tax Cut Strategy, including new bipartisan legislation, to fully restore the State and Local Tax (SALT) Deduction and deliver a much-needed tax cut for hardworking Jersey families. 

Video of Gottheimer’s announcement can be found here.

The Crucial Impact of the SALT Deduction in North Jersey

• Restoring the SALT deduction will help more than three million Jersey families — a third of the state’s residents, eighty percent of whom make less than $218,000 a year.
• In 2017, the average SALT deduction taken in New Jersey was $19,000, nearly double the current cap, and $24,000 in Bergen County. The deduction put thousands of dollars back into the pockets of Jersey’s middle-income families.
• According to a recent report — Jersey has had the highest outmigration in the entire country for the last seven years, with families and businesses citing affordability and taxes as their chief reasons for leaving.
  • One-third of the state’s publicly traded companies left throughout the last decade. 
• The median property tax bill in Bergen County is more than $15,000.
  • This can be 15 times higher than in a state like Mississippi.

Gottheimer’s New SALT Tax Cut Strategy

• This week, Gottheimer submitted a SALT report to the House Ways and Means Committee with hundreds of comments from Jersey families, small businesses, and community leaders on the importance of the SALT Deduction for middle-class families.
  • In September, Gottheimer announced his SALT Portal to collect comments and ensure millions of Jersey families are heard in Washington. 
• As Co-Chair of the bipartisan SALT Caucus, Gottheimer led a Caucus meeting this week to discuss strategy with other Members and gear up for the fight to fully restore the SALT deduction. 
• Following the Caucus meeting, Gottheimer introduced bipartisan legislation with SALT Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Andrew Garbarino to fully restore the SALT Deduction and give families in Jersey a much needed tax cut. 
• Finally, Gottheimer sent a letter, along with his SALT Report, to the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee urging them to restore the SALT deduction as part of any reconciliation bill. 

“From teachers to nurses to first responders, Jersey has spoken — and they want the full SALT deduction back. They want to make life here more affordable, and they don’t want to be taxed twice on the same income,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), Co-Chair of the SALT Caucus. “The same Red Moocher States that raised taxes in 2017 are trying to cap the deduction again, or get rid of the deduction altogether, and stick it to our middle class families. We will need to fight tooth and nail, but as you all know, I never back down from a fight to lower taxes and costs and help our families. When it comes to cutting taxes, restoring SALT, and making life more affordable,  I’ll work with anyone to get this done.”

Gottheimer was joined by Assemblywoman Ellen Park (LD 37), Assemblywoman Shama Haider (LD 37), Mayor Bill Ziegler, Councilman Louis Grandelis, Councilman Christoph Hesterbrink, and Councilman Jordan Ziegler. 

Gottheimer’s remarks as prepared for delivery: 

Good morning, everyone. It’s great to be back with you in Leonia. 

Anyone who lives in Jersey knows that when a winter storm is coming, we salt the road. That’s the best way to stop you from slipping and sliding in a storm. With inflation and higher costs, a financial storm has hit right at the front doors of millions of hardworking families in Jersey. 

One of the best ways to take that on is to lower taxes and get costs down. That’s why we need to restore the State and Local Tax Deduction, or SALT, so we can lower taxes and give financial relief to middle-class families.

For anyone who might have missed it — since 1913, the SALT deduction allows you to deduct what you paid in state income and local property taxes before you pay your federal taxes — helping Jersey families avoid double taxation. That all changed in 2017, when the Red Moocher States jammed the Tax Hike Bill through Congress. 

So, instead of being able to deduct all of SALT — all of your state income and property taxes — it was capped at $10,000. This was a gut punch to Jersey, causing our hardworking families to pay far more in taxes.

This is hardly a one-percenter issue. In Jersey, this is a middle-class issue. According to public reporting, when we restore the SALT deduction, nearly a third of New Jersey residents — almost three million people — will get tax relief. Eighty percent of them have incomes of $216,000 or less. 

In fact, the average SALT deduction taken in New Jersey was $19,000, and right here in Bergen County, the average SALT deduction was nearly $25,000 — that’s more than double the current cap.

We all know Jersey is the best state to live in the nation, with the smartest people, and the best schools and first responders, but it’s too damn expensive. New Jersey ranks fourth highest in cost of living in the nation, and it’s causing people to leave our state. They just can’t afford to stay. 

According to a recent report — Jersey has had the highest outmigration in the entire country for the last seven years, with families and businesses citing affordability and taxes as their chief reasons for leaving. One-third of the state’s publicly traded companies left throughout the last decade. Even the median property tax bill in Bergen County is more than $15,000. That’s right — property taxes here can be 15 times higher than in a state like Mississippi. 

The SALT cap hasn’t just been bad for families, it’s been bad for our state’s economy. We are losing people and businesses, and the jobs and investments that come with them. We need to lower taxes and make life more affordable here, and restoring SALT will definitely help.

Here’s the good news. The tax bill that the Red Moocher States passed in 2017, where they capped the deduction at $10,000, is set to expire this year. So, SALT is back on the table, as we head into a debate on the next tax bill.

That’s why, back in September, I announced a new online SALT portal, so Jersey families could leave their feedback and make their voices heard on this critical issue. From Cape May County to Sussex County and everywhere in between, from teachers to nurses to first responders, Jersey has spoken – and they want the full deduction back. They want to make life here more affordable, and they don’t want to be taxed twice on the same income. 

My constituent Caitlin from Glen Rock, posted on the SALT portal: “The SALT cap has caused her family to owe taxes each year since it was enacted…(creating) an enormous financial burden. With 3 young children all in daycare, (they) used to rely on getting money back (from) the SALT deduction to offset childcare costs — and now (they) are forced to pay even more money, depleting (their) savings account.”

This will come as a shock, but the same Red Moocher States that raised taxes in 2017 are trying to cap the deduction again, or get rid of the deduction altogether, and stick it to our middle class families.

This has been a multi-year fight. Since 2017, I’ve already helped pass four bills out of the House to restore SALT — just to watch the Red Moocher States kill it in the Senate every time. We are not going to just let that happen again.

Today, I’m announcing my SALT Tax Cut Strategy to defend our Jersey Values, cut taxes, and bring the Jersey fight to protect those struggling with higher costs.   

First, through the SALT portal, Jersey has been loud and clear on this issue since day one. As I said, since September, I have received hundreds of comments from across the state, and SALT has had a massive impact on their budgets, their families, and on small businesses. They need the cap raised and lower taxes. This is on top of the thousands of letters, calls, and conversations I’ve had since the Tax Hike Bill passed in 2017.

Second, based on the overwhelming responses that I heard from so many of you, this week, as Co-Chair of the bipartisan SALT Caucus, we brought everyone together for a strategy session to gear up for the fight to fully restore the SALT deduction. We’re working around-the-clock, so that our hardworking families can keep more money in their pocketbooks. Make no mistake: the Red Moocher States are already in back rooms scheming behind the scenes to extend the SALT cap – and keep our taxes higher. Just this morning, Republicans announced a menu of options to eat into the budgets of middle class families even further. 

This includes getting rid of the SALT Deduction entirely. Not even the 10k cap that’s squeezing our pocketbooks already — zero. nothing. This is Red States versus Blue States.

Third, after hearing from you and our SALT Caucus meeting, I introduced the bipartisan Securing Access to Lower Taxes by Ensuring (SALT) Deductibility Act to fully restore the SALT deduction and lower your taxes. This bipartisan legislation, which I introduced with Rep. Andrew Garbarino from New York, already has twenty Democrats and Republicans as cosponsors. 

We won’t let the Red State Moochers take SALT off the table — we’re going to restore the deduction and lower taxes and keep more of your money where it belongs — not in the Moocher states, but right here in your wallets.

Finally, I’m sending this report, with all these comments from Jersey families to the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Jason Smith, and the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Mike Crapo, along with a letter urging them to help pass our bipartisan legislation and fully restore the SALT deduction. They need to hear just how important this deduction is for Jersey homes, families, and small businesses.

This won’t be easy. We will need to fight tooth and nail, but as you all know, I never back down from a fight to lower taxes and costs and help our families. When it comes to cutting taxes, restoring SALT, and making life more affordable,  I’ll work with anyone to get this done.

If we work together, here in the greatest country in the world, I know that 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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