WOODLAND PARK, N.J. — For over 50 years Joan Gordon Murko has called Woodland Park home.
She and her husband Donald — now retired — recently had to cancel plans on a full scale renovation that would’ve made the home experience for her husband, who is disabled, more accessible.
“I made some modifications but I limited them because I didn’t want to go over a certain amount because I knew it would eventually impact our real estate taxes,” Murko told PIX11.
She is among the 42% of New Jersey taxpayers eligible for the deduction and was later impacted by the Trump-era $10,000 cap imposed to the SALT tax deduction.
New Jersey homeowners pay the highest property taxes in the nation and have long relied on writing off taxes paid at the state and local level. But since the Trump administration overhauled the U.S. tax code in 2017, the cap has restricted residents like Murko from collecting on those deductions.
“It’s just crucial,” she said.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill is now fighting to repeal the SALT cap — kicking off her statewide initiative the “summer of salt” in woodland park Monday — where she plans to highlight the impact the cap has on working families across the state.
“It has imposed a harmful double tax and has created one of the largest marriage penalties in our federal tax code,” the congresswoman said at a press conference Monday.
From teachers to firefighters, the cap has caused damage to what the group calls the heart of the middle class.
“Why did President Trump do that?” Randi Weingarten, AFT President asked. “Because he was looking for money so they could create a tax deduction for the wealthy.”
The campaign spearheaded by the congresswoman is putting pressure on the Biden administration to take action and repeal the cap.
“I won’t rest until I’ve done everything in my power to ensure that it’s included in upcoming legislation,” she said.
In an effort to combat those critics that have said repealing the cap would benefit mostly wealthier Americans, the “summer of salt” campaign which will include a number of events across the state, will zero in on working families and the negative impact it Has had on them.
