Malliotakis pushes for tax-free Social Security benefits for seniors

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Dozens of seniors applauded Rep. Nicole Malliotakis Monday morning after she revealed her work to deliver tax relief on Social Security and to boost the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap.

Gathered inside the New Dorp Beach Friendship Club, representatives from AARP joined Malliotakis at the podium alongside some enthusiastic constituents.

“The reason we’re here today is because we are rallying very hard in Washington to make sure that we deliver tax relief for our senior citizens. This has been a priority of mine, and I’ve been talking about this since I’ve become a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which is in charge of all taxes. It is so critical for the people that I represent, all of you, my parents, who are senior citizens as well,” Malliotakis explained.

Joking that her father is her “number one most demanding constituent,” she told the crowd that he had asked, “Why do we pay taxes on our Social Security?”

“He [her father] had a point. This is money that you’ve worked very hard for. You’ve paid taxes your whole lives. You’ve earned your Social Security. So, we not only need to make sure we preserve Social Security, but that we let you keep it tax free,” Malliotakis said.

She sympathized with the seniors and their concerns about “trying to get by” with their income, before revealing that she “introduced legislation that would double the deduction that our seniors receive” in addition to “another piece of legislation to increase those [Social Security] thresholds for tax exemption.”

“Meaning… if you have a combined income of $25,000 as an individual or $32,000 as a married couple, it’s not a lot of money at all. You pay some form of tax on your Social Security; it could be on 50% of your Social Security, it could be on 85% of your Social Security. But if you are above those thresholds, you pay something. It has not been changed in my entire lifetime. In four decades, those thresholds have not been changed,” she explained.

AARP’s New York State Director Beth Finkel announced AARP’s support for Malliotakis’ Bonus Tax Relief for America’s Senior Act.

“We have over two million members here in New York state, and in fact, we have over 37 million across the country. And just like all of you, there is a pain point. Most of you are on fixed incomes and not equipped to keep paying increased costs, so the way to bring this down is to save money on your taxes,” Finkel said. “So, AARP is so happy to support the bipartisan Bonus Tax Relief for America Senior act because it will put money back into your pockets, back into the pockets of all older Americans and much needed tax relief.”

The bill, according to Finkel, will boost “the additional standard tax deduction for those 65 and older from $1,950 to $5,000 for single filers and from $3,100 to $10,000 for married couples.”

AARP, Finkel said, is calling on Congress to pass the bill. Malliotakis said she is “feeling confident that we’re going to deliver tax relief for our seniors this year.”

On top of that, Malliotakis expects the SALT deductions to be raised sometime in the future, too.

“I think we can get to a number that we can cover all middle class families on Staten Island. I’m not worried about a deduction for millionaires or billionaires. I’m working on a number that can deliver results for our middle class,” She explained last week to the Advance/SILive.com.

Currently, the SALT deduction cap allows people who pay state and local taxes, like the residents of New York City, to take up to $10,000 off their federal taxes, a cap imposed by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed during President Donald Trump’s first administration. Since its implementation in 1913, taxpayers have been able to make varying deductions from their federal taxes based on what they pay in state and local taxes, but it had not been capped.

Should the 2017 tax cut bill be allowed to expire, the SALT deduction system would return to its former lack of cap, but it would also result in a variety of tax increases, particularly for much of the Republican base.

The party’s slim majority in the House of Representatives means that Republicans from high-tax states like New York, New Jersey and California have particular leverage to get an increase to the SALT deduction.

The congresswoman said the idea of tripling the deduction cap to around $30,000 would cover most taxpayers with incomes up to around $500,000. Staten Islanders have a median household income of about $98,000, according to the U.S. Census.