California Looks at Republican Tax Measures and Sees Payback
“It’s about time the federal government stops letting them off the hook by giving them cover with an overly complicated federal tax system.”
On the Democratic side, Anthony Rendon, the Assembly speaker, called the bill “anti-California,” and said he was surprised
that so few California Republicans had spoken against it, especially in contrast to Republicans in other states, like New York, that would also be hurt.
He said other parts of the bill — such as increasing the standard deduction
and eliminating the alternative minimum tax — would help California taxpayers who were, he said, saddled with high state taxes.
But as Republican legislators shape a bill that delivers a big cut in corporate taxes while remaining within deficit limits
that allow a party-line vote, the houses have consistently looked at reducing credits and deductions whose ripple effects would be minimal in most of the country but profound for taxpayers who live, generally, in Democratic states.
The bills would phase out the ability to deduct personal casualty losses from wildfires and earthquakes — a constant threat in vast parts of the state —
but keep the deduction for damage from hurricanes and floods like those in Florida and Texas this year.
SAN FRANCISCO — The tax plan hurtling through Congress is a fast-moving blur of cuts
and increases designed to keep Republicans on track to pass a bill without Democratic votes.
“I would like to think that this isn’t directly aimed at California, but it’s hard not to think
that Congress has their sights set on the Golden State,” said State Senator Mike McGuire, a Democrat whose district includes areas ravaged by the recent wildfires in the north.