A recent analysis from the governor’s office says a Republican proposal to eliminate state and federal tax deduction could cause the average federal income tax payment to increase $2,540 for 26,298 North Country taxpayers.

“The analysis shows that the elimination of state and local tax deductibility will mean that 3.3 million New York taxpayers would see their federal income tax liability increase by $17.5 billion. On average, New York taxpayers will have to pay $5,300 more in federal income taxes,” according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office. “Existing federal law that allows taxpayers to deduct their state and local taxes from their federal taxable income is a fundamental statement of the long-standing historical right of state and local governments to raise revenues and taxpayers not to be double taxed. It has been the law of the land since the Revenue Act of 1862, which created the country's first income tax, was enacted to finance the Union effort in the Civil War, and confirmed in the modern income tax, following the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1913. Setting all this aside would not be equivalent to 'closing a loophole' as some have described that action; it would double tax the taxpayer, undermining states' rights.”

The deduction for state and local taxes paid is also the “most widely used benefit” in the tax code, Cuomo’s office said, and virtually all taxpayers filing itemized returns nationally claimed a deduction for state and local taxes paid.

An increase in federal taxes as a result of the elimination of the federal deduction “will have enormous negative effects that would further harm New York including thousands of lost jobs and multibillion dollar loss in gross state product, economic activity and personal income,” a news release from the governor’s office said.

“Further, according to a report by the Rockefeller Institute of Government, New York sent $48 billion more in taxes to the federal government in federal fiscal year 2015 than it received back — a far greater ‘balance of payments’ shortfall than any other state. The elimination of State and local tax deductibility will increase New York's already disproportionate contribution,” Cuomo’s office said.