A plan being put forward by New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler sounds a little like a Cornhusker Kickback for Manhattan. You see, Rep. Nadler, a big believer in tax hikes, wants taxes increased just about everywhere except…his district, and a few other similarly tony places.
Nadler’s new bill is called the Tax Equity Act-the Wall Street Journal says it should be called the Blue State Tax Preference Act-and it would require the IRS to adjust the taxes of those who live in expensive zip codes (like we’re forcing them to live there!).
If you pull down $50,000 in Podunk, you’ll be taxed on it at a higher rate than somebody making the same amount in New York. The Wall Street Journal isn’t buying it:
A big reason the cost of living is so high in Boston, Manhattan and San Francisco is because of high state and local taxes, union work rules, and heavy business regulation that make it more expensive to produce, sell and buy things.
Why should someone in Spokane or Knoxville or Topeka be penalized because New York and California impose destructive policies? Mr. Nadler also conveniently forgets that the federal tax code already subsidizes high-cost states through the deductibility of state and local income and property taxes.
An all-star line-up of liberal class warriors has nonetheless endorsed Mr. Nadler’s effort to raise taxes on the rich everywhere but in their own districts. New York House Members Tim Bishop, Steve Israel, Nita Lowey, Carolyn Maloney and Carolyn McCarthy are cosponsors. Ms. Lowey, who has voted to tax anything that moves, now says that “When it comes to the tax code, one size just doesn’t fit all” and laments that New York has “some of the highest property taxes in the country.” But whose fault is that?
Are you eager to subsidize somebody in Manhattan?
I thought not.