WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2008. From Senator Hillary Clinton's Press Office. November 9, 2007: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton joined several of her colleagues in urging Senate leadership to consider a measure that would provide a new standard deduction on property taxes for the nation’s middle class homeowners who are struggling to keep pace with escalating property tax rates. In a letter, the lawmakers citied the tax package passed by the House Ways and Means Committee which includes property tax relief for millions of middle class Americans, and urged the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee to include a similar homeowner tax relief deduction in the Committee’s tax extender package that is now under consideration.
“New York’s taxpayers are working harder than ever to make ends meet. While property tax rates have skyrocketed over the last six years, the median household income has actually decreased, adding to a financial burden that has threatened homeownership in communities throughout the State and country,” said Senator Clinton. “Enacting property tax relief this year will help balance the field for those taxpayers who do not itemize their deductions, and will provide critical financial assistance to the hardworking middle class.”
U.S. taxpayers are working harder than ever to meet their financial obligations, and rising property tax rates have only increased the burden. Census data shows that from 2000 to 2006, the total amount of state and local property taxes increased by 50 percent, while inflation increased by only 17 percent. Over that same period of time, median household income dropped by 2 percent.
Taxpayers who do not itemize their deductions may claim the standard federal tax deduction, but this deduction does not adequately take into account the rising property tax values and increases. In 2005 roughly 1.4 million New York tax filers who paid property taxes did not itemize their deductions to account for property taxes. A new standard deduction for property taxes would treat itemizers and non-itemizers more equitably, and would provide relief to the more than 32 million homeowners nationwide who do not itemize their deductions.
