Democrats in key House races push against tax deduction cap

Published 8:03 am Thursday, September 20, 2018

CHERRY HILL, N.J.  — Congressman Leonard Lance voted last December with the interests of his northern New Jersey district in mind when he opposed his own party’s sweeping tax overhaul.

The cap on deductions for state and local taxes that was part of the Republican plan was bound to mean that many people in the high-tax state would pay more.

“My constituents know I will fight for complete deductibility,” he said.

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Despite his opposition, the tax law has become one of the flashpoints in Lance’s re-election campaign.

In their quest to regain the majority in the U.S. House, Democrats are focusing on the law’s potential to hurt voters in certain congressional districts in high-tax states such as New Jersey, New York and California. The three states combined have about a dozen competitive House seats, roughly half the number Democrats need to retake the chamber, and are in places where voters are upset about the new deduction limits.

Most voters won’t know until next year whether they will pay more in taxes under the GOP law, but the Democrats aren’t waiting.