Washington—This morning, Heritage Action released a letter signed by 146 real estate professionals from all across the country in support of tax reform. The signers write, "If passed, the GOP tax proposal would unleash economic growth, create jobs and increase wages for American workers by dramatically cutting taxes on U.S. businesses, lowering and simplifying tax rates on all individuals, and eliminating special interest handouts." The letter continues:
"We specifically encourage you to keep the proposal to double the standard deduction and repeal the state and local tax (SALT) deduction. Contrary to what the National Association of Realtors (NAR) claim, doubling the standard deduction and repealing SALT does not increase taxes on homeowners and millions of middle class families. The 70 percent of taxpayers who don't itemize will receive a significant tax cut break through the doubling of the standard deduction."
The National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Home Builders are opposed to the tax reform effort. Heritage Action Chief Executive Officer Michael A. Needham hammered the two groups yesterday on Fox News Sunday:
"Every single corrupt force of the status quo in Washington, D.C., the [National Association of Realtors], the Home Builders, the representatives of high-tax state are going to all come in and try to pick apart this plan and protect their little carve out. ... [The National Association of Realtors] is just making totally kind of the arguments about themselves and what's good for themselves. This is a tax cut that will be good for people who don't itemize, for people who do itemize. This is a great plan for the country and we need to get it done before the forces of the status quo and the special interests tear it apart."
The full letter is below and signers can be found here.
Dear Speaker Ryan and Leader McConnell:
We the undersigned real estate professionals are writing to express our strong support for the Unified Framework for Fixing Our Broken Tax Code recently released by the so-called "Big Six." If passed, the GOP tax proposal would unleash economic growth, create jobs and increase wages for American workers by dramatically cutting taxes on U.S. businesses, lowering and simplifying tax rates on all individuals, and eliminating special interest handouts.
We specifically encourage you to keep the proposal to double the standard deduction and repeal the state and local tax (SALT) deduction. Contrary to what the National Association of Realtors (NAR) claim, doubling the standard deduction and repealing SALT does not increase taxes on homeowners and millions of middle class families. The 70 percent of taxpayers who don't itemize will receive a significant tax cut break through the doubling of the standard deduction.
Those few Americans who continue to itemize, which NAR points out will only be the top 5 percent of tax filers, will also receive a tax cut as the marginal rates will likely come down across the board. By eliminating state and local tax breaks, lawmakers could use the increased federal revenue to reduce marginal tax rates by as much as 16.4 percent without adding to the deficit.
In addition, while doubling the standard deduction would nullify the need for middle class families to take the mortgage interest deduction (MID), it would have the positive effect of lowering housing prices and help expand the first time homebuyer market. Repealing the SALT deduction would finally put pressure on fiscally irresponsible state and local politicians, specifically in California, New York and New Jersey, to lower their income and property taxes. Why would a state like New York lower taxes if federal taxpayers continue to subsidize its out of control spending?
It's been far too long since Congress reformed our broken tax code and our economy has suffered as a result. According to the Tax Foundation, pro-growth tax reform has the potential to grow the economy by 10 percent over the next 10 years and increase the average American family's wages by more than 7 percent or about $4,000 for someone earning $50,000 a year. This GOP tax proposal is a serious tax reform package that will grow the economy and help create a healthy and robust housing market. The time for action is now.
Sincerely,