GOP lawmaker: Tax bill might ‘look a lot different’ if Dems were involved

Rep. Dan Donovan (R-N.Y.) in an interview broadcast Sunday blasted Democrats for not engaging on tax-reform efforts in Congress, saying that if they did, the final legislation would have looked “a lot different.”

In an interview with radio host John Catsimatidis on AM 970 in New York, Donovan criticized the tax bill’s proposal to clamp down on the amount of state and local taxes Americans can deduct from their federal income taxes, suggesting the outcome may have been different with Democrats.

Donovan said that President Trump has had to rely solely on input from Republicans on the bill, because Democrats have been unwilling to come to the table on the matter.

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“The president is trying to do this because he’s not getting Democratic support,” Donovan said. “There are people, unfortunately, in Washington who want to see our president fail no matter how it affects the people they represent.”

“And if there was some bipartisanship here — if the Democratic Party was making suggestions and the president didn’t have to depend only on Republican votes — this tax bill may look a lot different,” he added. 

Republican lawmakers unveiled the final version of their sweeping rewrite of the nation’s tax code on Friday. They’re hoping to pass the measure and send it to Trump’s desk by Christmas.

The bill limits the state and local tax deduction to $10,000 for both individuals and married couples.

The move to scale back the deductions hits states with high tax rates, like New York and California, particularly hard. Donovan said the $10,000 limit is not enough for New Yorkers, and would disproportionately impact them compared to taxpayers in other states.

“That certainly isn’t enough for hard-working New Yorkers … these folks work very hard. They pay their taxes every year,” he said. “But every April they look forward to that check from the U.S. Treasury Department to either pay a bill or repair something on their home or take their family on a small vacation.”