About 70 percent of Westport homeowners would pay more federal taxes if a $10,000 limit is imposed on deduction of local property taxes, according to figures released today by Tax Assessor Paul Friia.
He said Westport currently has 9,430 taxable single-family residential properties, and 2,897 of them, or 30.72 percent, pay $10,000 or less in property taxes. That leaves slightly fewer than 70 percent of single-family homeowners who pay more than $10,000 annually in property taxes.
If all taxable properties are included, the total is 10,321, and those paying $10,000 or less would be 28.06 percent, Friia said.
State Department of Revenue Services Commissioner Kevin B. Sullivan has said that capping deductibility of the property tax would increase federal taxes “for a significant proportion of Connecticut taxpayers who claim $4.9 billion” of tax relief through this break.
He estimated ending the deduction for state income tax would cost $8.7 billion “to mostly middle-income Connecticut taxpayers.”
House and Senate conferees are continuing to meet on the Republican’s tax legislation and will continue their work through the weekend, according to National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn.
He told reporters today those involved are tweaking final tax legislation to appease lawmakers who want to let constituents deduct state income taxes.
His comments marked the first time the White House has publicly weighed in on a potential compromise for state and local tax deductions that emerged this week.
Current House and Senate bills would preserve an individual deduction for state and local property taxes—capped at $10,000—but not for income taxes.
“No one really wants tax increases here,” Cohn said during a Bloomberg Television interview. “The White House is fine with that if that’s where the conferees go and the conference committee goes.”
This week, a potential compromise emerged: letting taxpayers deduct state income taxes in addition to property levies—up to the $10,000 cap.
