10.16.17

Durbin: Republican Tax Plan Will Hurt Illinois Families

CHICAGO – President Trump and Congressional Republicans’ new tax plan would benefit the wealthiest of Americans and corporations while hurting Illinois working families, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said today. The plan proposes several changes to individual taxes, including eliminating the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, a deduction that is used by one-third of all taxpayers to reduce their tax bill.  In 2018 under the Republican plan, half of all tax breaks will go to the top 1% wealthiest Americans. 

“While claiming to ‘fix our broken tax code,’ the Republican tax plan would instead provide nothing short of a windfall to the wealthiest Americans and stick hard-working families in Illinois with the bill. They are raising taxes on middle-income families to provide massive tax cuts for corporations to the tune of $2.6 trillion over the first ten years and an empty promise of economic growth," Durbin said. "American workers and their families are watching, and they’re still waiting for a better deal.”

The Republican plan would raise taxes on nearly one-third of Americans making between $50,000 and $150,000 per year. A family of four making $50,000 a year in Illinois will pay $887 more under the Republican plan than current law. 

The SALT deduction allows families that pay state and local income or sales tax to deduct those taxes from their federal income tax. This deduction prevents families from being doubled taxed—once by the federal government and again by the state.

Illinois has the fifth highest number of taxpayers who claim the state and local tax deductions.  Nearly 2 million Illinois taxpayers claimed more than $24 billion in SALT deductions in 2015, each claiming an average $12,500 in deductions.  Of Illinoisans who claim SALT, around 85% of them earn less than $200,000 per year.

In Cook County – where there are more taxpayers taking the SALT deduction than in eight states combined – nearly 800,000 residents would be double-taxed on $10.39 billion—averaging over $13,000 of additional taxable income per taxpayer.