NY gov: Eliminating state and local tax deduction would be ‘devastating’

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) met with President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday to discuss several issues affecting his state, including the deduction for state and local taxes.

It would be “devastating on the state of New York, California, et cetera, if you didn’t allow the people of this state to deduct their state and local taxes,” Cuomo told reporters after the meeting.

The House Republican tax reform plan would eliminate the state and local tax deduction, and Trump’s tax plan would cap itemized deductions for higher earners.

State and local governments have been working to preserve the deduction, and they argue that doing away with the preference would hurt states and localities’ flexibility to make tax changes.

{mosads}But the deduction is expensive for the federal government and is viewed as disproportionately benefiting wealthy people. It also tends to be used in areas that lean Democratic.

Another topic Cuomo discussed with Trump was healthcare. Cuomo said that three million New Yorkers would be uninsured if Congress repealed ObamaCare. He said that if Congress makes changes to ObamaCare, “it’s very important to protect the accomplishments” that the healthcare law brought.

Cuomo, who served as Housing and Urban Development secretary under President Clinton, also talked some with Trump about New York’s housing needs. He said New York City has record homelessness, and “HUD could be a great, great ally to cities and states in actually combating homelessness.”

Infrastructure was another area of conversation between Cuomo and Trump. The president-elect has named passing an infrastructure bill as one of his priorities, and Cuomo said if Trump wants to spend federal dollars on infrastructure quickly, “this is the state to do it.”