BTW zz, your argument with Beldin about whether red states are paying their fair share of federal income tax is specious. If liberal states weren't getting a screaming deal right now from the Federal government, their residents wouldn't mind that President Trump wants to even things up by eliminating state tax deductions from federal tax returns even as the residents of conservative states cheer him on.
The federal tax code favors the residents of states with the highest state taxes. They get both lower federal taxes and the benefits (ha!) of larger state governments. As an example, my chosen state, New Hampshire, has relatively little (but still too much) government. I consequently just paid the local power utility $11,000 to install a telephone pole and transformer on my land. In California, the same thing would likely have been FREE.
So be it. People who want to live in California can live in California. But our federal government shouldn't be rewarding or punishing citizens for the state they have picked. Where taxes are concerned, it has an obligation to treat all Americans very nearly the same. I might add that it fails abysmally in this respect, but it should at least make the effort.
Now, if you and clo hate the idea of New Yorkers having to pay the same amount in Federal taxes that New Hampshireans and Texans do, then I suggest you meet with your governor and state legislators to ask them to compensate for this by lowering your state's tax rates to something more in line with that of Texas and New Hampshire. Good luck! After they laugh you out of their offices, you might consider leaving New York for some place that doesn't suck.
I say this in jest, of course. I realize that you and clo don't pay any federal taxes and won't even if the state tax deduction is eliminated. But you want those free benefits - and even you two are bright enough to know that they might be cut if your state's successful residents have to pay more to the Federal government. Some of them might even decide to leave New York, taking their businesses and their high incomes to some place else. What arrogance those rich people have! Don't you just hate that???
President Trump is right. The state tax deduction needs to be tossed. It is blatantly harmful to the residents of most of the states.
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