Sen. Joe Pennacchio, who represents Verona in the New Jersey state Senate, is eyeing a home-grown solution to the property tax dilemma posed by the tax plan approved by his fellow Republicans in the federal Senate.
Pennacchio (R-26) has introduced legislation that would let New Jersey homeowners fully deduct property taxes on their state returns, instead of being limited to the current $10,000 state property tax deduction. He is calling on Governor-elect Phil Murphy to support the measure.
“Governor-elect Murphy and many state lawmakers of both parties have vocally opposed federal tax reforms that would limit the federal deductibility of property taxes to $10,000,” Pennacchio said in a post on the website run by state Senate Republicans. “At the same time, few have discussed the negative impact of New Jersey’s long-standing $10,000 limit on our state’s property tax deduction. Rather than simply criticizing officials in Washington, Governor-elect Murphy should see this as an opportunity to work with lawmakers in Trenton to fix something that we have the power to fix to make New Jersey more affordable.”
“If we’re going to say that having no limit for property tax deductions is the right policy,” he added, “then let’s change our New Jersey laws to match our rhetoric.”
While the federal tax plan initially called for a complete end to property tax deductions, the version passed by the U.S. Senate last Friday changed that to a $10,000 limit. The independent news website NJSpotlight.com analyzed tax returns filed in Verona for 2015 earlier this year and found that the average state a local tax deduction taken here was $24,480.
Phone and email messages left for Gov.-elect Murphy’s transition team have not been returned.
